


Not a Flower || George Weasley

by sprintingfox



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adventure, Angst, F/M, Other, Romance, Sprinting Fox, SprintingFox
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 90
Words: 388,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23232529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sprintingfox/pseuds/sprintingfox
Summary: Born few months after Lily and James graduated, their eldest child, a daughter, was not of interest to Voldemort. However, when he discovered the girl had powers beyond belief, Voldemort decided he could not and would not allow either of the Potter children to survive.
Relationships: Elizabeth Potter/George Weasley, George Weasley/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 94





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> ...…. with Karen Gillian as Elizabeth Potter 
> 
> I apologize for any typos! I didn't edit it before uploading everything to all the platforms I have it on so please try and read through them, thanks!
> 
> All credit for original characters and original plot goes to J.K. Rowling. I own only my OCs and select scenes not from the original series. Thank you Joanne, for writing the series. Thank you all, for reading.

_MARCH 13, 1978_

_"P-Pregnant?"_

_Lily Evans looked up fearfully at her friends, holding the pregnancy test in her trembling hands. The pink lines indicating that she was in fact pregnant were vibrant against the white stick._

_"Oh Merlin!" Mary shrieked, running to Lily excitedly._

_"This isn't good!" Lily cried, sitting down and holding her head in her hands, the pregnancy test stick dangling from her fingers. "We haven't even graduated Hogwarts yet!"_

_"But it's only March," Alice said gently, patting her back softly. "When we graduate in June no one will be able to tell! Just wear baggy robes, it's a trend now."_

_"I can't have a baby, I've only just turned eighteen and James is still seventeen!" Lily said. "We're not ready to be parents..." she looked up at her friends, wide eyed. "What— what if he doesn't want to stick around?"_

_The girls went silent._

_"Oh Lily," Alice said, "why wouldn't he want to stick around? He tried to get a date with you for six years! He's a committed guy."_

_"Yes but that's different— that was just dating," Lily said. "This... this is an entire baby we'll have to take care of!"_

_"I'm sure he'll be supportive," Mary said. "This is half his fault."_

_Lily remained silent, looking down at the pregnancy test again. In eight months, she was going to be a mother._

_"Fine," she said in a hoarse voice. "Fine, let's go tell him."_

_The girls all crowded excitedly around Lily, urging her down to the Common Room._

_"James," Lily said._

_"Hey babe," he said, grinning and fixing his glasses._

_"I need to talk to you," Lily said seriously, beckoning him to follow her._

_"Alright," James said, getting up off the couch and following her to a secluded corner, within the field of view of all their anxious friends. The girls were wondering how James would take it. The boys were wondering what this was about._

_"What's wrong, Lily?" James asked, furrowing his eyebrows._

_"I'm pregnant," she whispered, looking up at him, her green eyes wide._

_James looked at her, almost unsure if he'd heard right._

_"Pregnant?" He repeated slowly._

_"Yes," she said. "It's... it's yours."_

_"Well gee I sure hope it's mine," James said. "Wow Lily... we're going to be parents! Do you want to keep it a secret until we graduate or—"_

_"Wait what?" Lily stammered. "You're okay with it? You're not going to leave me?"_

_"I could never do that," James said. "We're in this mess together. I love you so much, Lily. And this baby..." he gently pressed a hand on her stomach. "It's still too little to be given a name but that's OUR baby. I know we're young and all but this... this is going to be a family."_

_Lily looked at James again, her eyes watering with tears. She leapt into his arms and kissed him full on the mouth._

_Remus Lupin and Sirius Black looked at each other, then at Peter Pettigrew, then at the girls, who were squealing._

_"Does that mean what I think it means?" Sirius asked._

_"Yes!" Mary said._

_"I'm going to be a dad!" James said happily, lifting Lily around and pressing another kiss to her lips._

_"That Lily Evans!" Mary said to Remus. "I cannot believe that after six years of rejecting James Potter she let him knock her up!"_

_OCTOBER 31, 1981_

_The little girl jumped up and giggled, trying to catch the little smoke rings her father was making come out from his wand._

_Her baby brother sat in his lap, making cooing noises. Their mother watched from the kitchen door, smiling at her beautiful family._

_Then the smoke stopped, and the little girl stared in confusion at her father, who placed her brother in the chair and went down the hall, peering out the window._

_The mother looked uncertainly at her children._

_"Take the children and run, Lily!" He yelled. "It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"_

_Not understanding what was going on, the little girl remained silent as her mother sprinted forward and picked both children up, hugging them tightly to her chest, as she ran upstairs._

_Lily put the little boy into the crib and set the girl down on the floor, moving furniture to block the now locked door. She ran back and kneeled down, gripping the girl's shoulders._

_"Elizabeth, listen to mommy," Lily said frantically, fear gripping on her voice. "You need to hide—"_

_There was a loud boom and the door flew open, a man stepping through the furniture._

_"Not my children, please," Lily begged, stepping in front of Elizabeth and the little boy in the crib._

_"Stand aside, girl," the man's deep voice said._

_"Not Elizabeth and Harry, please..." Lily said, staring at the man fearfully._

_"Move aside!" The man snarled, pointing his wand at her._

_"Take me instead!" Lily cried, "kill me, not them..."_

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

_There was a flashing green light, a terrible scream, and then Lily dropped to the floor._

_Elizabeth ran to her mother and touched her face. Harry was crying, holding onto the bars of the crib._

_"M_ _u_ _mmy no more games," Elizabeth said, touching her mother's lifeless cheeks._

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

_There was another scream— worse than the first. Harry cried louder. Elizabeth turned and saw that the man had disappeared, and Harry was bleeding. The entire top floor of the house had been blown up, and the wall was burning slightly. Elizabeth whimpered, and ran to her brother, hugging him through the bars as he cried. She didn't understand what had happened, or why her mother was playing such a strange game— in fact, she didn't like this game._

_She did what her mother had told her to do when someone was bleeding. She got her shirt and pressed it on her little brother's face, and he wailed even louder._

_"Mommy, wake up!" Elizabeth cried, tears now brimming in her eyes. Why was her mother sleeping at a time like this?_

_Elizabeth shook her mother by the shoulders, and touched her face softly._

_"Mommy! Mommy!" Elizabeth wailed, as Harry cried even louder._

_The little girl pushed past the broken furniture and went downstairs. Her father had to be downstairs, maybe he knew how to stop her mother from playing this silly game._

_But when Elizabeth went downstairs she found her father in a similar position as her mother, except his eyes were open._

_"Daddy!" Elizabeth screamed. "No more games! NO MORE GAMES!"_

_Her father did not stir. Elizabeth bawled louder and wiped her nose, running back upstairs to Harry, who was crying so much he was starting to grow tired._

_Elizabeth climbed into his crib and hugged him, which made him quiet down a bit._

_She did not understand that her parents had been murdered. She did not understand that they would never wake up, that they could not hear her and her brother's cries. She didn't know who the strange man was or why he'd hurt her brother. She wondered why this awful game was still being played, and why her parents had not taught it to her. She thought that perhaps if she knew how to play, it might not be so dull._

_Harry gave a little wheeze and a shudder and settled in his sister's arms, falling asleep._

_After what seemed like hours of waiting, someone arrived to check up on the children._

_"NO, JAMES!" A man's voice said._

_"Help!" Elizabeth screamed, her tears dried and plastered on her skin._

_The man ran upstairs to meet her. She did not recognize him, all she knew is that he was much larger than her father had been._

_"Elizabeth!" Hagrid said. "Harry! Lily.. tha's no' righ'... no.. Lily."_

_Hagrid picked up both children and ran out of the house, right before several Muggles arrived to contemplate the burning house._

_Immediately afterward, he was ambushed by Sirius Black._

_"What happened?" Sirius asked. "Where are James and Lily?"_

_"They're dead," Hagrid said gravely. "Harry here was hit by a curse, I reckon', and Elizabeth here is fine, but the 'hole top o' the house is blown up, yeh'd think a dragon burned it down..."_

_"Mommy and daddy started playing this game with silly man!" Elizabeth said. "This game is not fun."_

_Sirius had to force himself not to burst into tears. There was no way he could tell the little girl what had happened, not right now, not without breaking down._

_"Hagrid, I can take them," Sirius said. "I'm Harry's godfather... I'll take them to Remus' place, he's Elizabeth's godfather.."_

_"An' where will you go?" Hagrid asked._

_"Nevermind that. Please Hagrid, let me take them..."_

_"I can'," Hagrid said. "Dumbledore's orders."_

_"Dumbledore?" Sirius asked. "But Remus and I should both be able to try and raise them, we're their family, I can ask Remus to bring his stuff over to my place..."_

_"I reckon Dumbledore wants them ter be with their aunt and uncle," Hagrid said._

_"Then let me take Elizabeth to Remus," Sirius said. "She's already seen so much, she can't grow up with Muggles who hate magic, she's always going to wonder why she can remember this happening and why she's told it's a false memory."_

_"I wish I coul' say yes," Hagrid said. "But Dumbledore's orders-"_

_"Damn it!" Sirius snarled. "Fine.. Fine.. but take my motorbike."_

_Once Sirius had left, Hagrid hopped onto the motorbike and flew a sleeping Harry and a confused Elizabeth over to Little Whinging._

_"Hagrid," Dumbledore said, relieved. "At last. Where did you get the motorcycle?"_

_"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," Hagrid said. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got them both here..."_

_He took Elizabeth out of the side car, who was trembling and holding Harry in her arms._

_"Oh you poor dear," Minerva said. She pulled Elizabeth into her arms and hugged her._

_"Where are my Mommy and Daddy?" Elizabeth asked, ready to start crying again._

_Dumbledore knelt down, and touched her shoulder gently. "Elizabeth... you are too young to know that. You are going to be living with your aunt and uncle for awhile, alright?"_

_"Tell me!" Elizabeth said. "Tell me where they are!"_

_"Elizabeth-"_

_The little girl stomped on the floor, infuriated. "Tell ME!"_

_Then suddenly, there was no longer a little girl standing before them. There was a little lion cub._

_"Oh my goodness!" Minerva cried, picking the lion cub up. "Did she just-?"_

_"She's inherited her grandfather's powers," Dumbledore said. "Fleamont Potter was a shapeshifter.."_

_"A shapeshifter?" Minerva asked. "I had no idea...."_

_"Finite Incantatem," Dumbledore said._

_Then, in Minerva's arms, the lion cub became a little girl again._

_"What happened?" she asked, beginning to cry._

_"We cannot leave her here," Minerva said. "Albus.. if she has these powers she could have more. She won't be able to blend in with Muggle children and she will not be treated well in this Muggle household- they will throw her onto the street when they discover that she can do this."_

_Dumbledore pursed his lips. "So be it. We shall leave a note explaining the situation, and telling the Muggles that Elizabeth will grow up with her godfather until Harry joins her at Hogwarts. We do not want Harry knowing about magic until he's ready... I shall take her myself. Let's see..."_

_He waved his wand. Out of thin air, a piece of parchment with writing appeared. Elizabeth whimpered and hugged Minerva's leg as Dumbledore wrapped Harry in blankets._

_Hagrid let out a wail like a wounded dog._

_"You'll wake the Muggles!" Minerva hissed, making Elizabeth clutch tighter to her leg._

_"S-s-sorry," Hagrid said. "But I c-c-can't stand it-- Lily an' James dead an' poor Harry off ter live with Muggles an' poor Elizabeth not knowin' what happened to 'er parents an' havin' to grow up withou' her little brother..."_

_"They will both be alright," Dumbledore said. "They will meet when Harry is old enough to go to Hogwarts, and then she will be able to come live with the Dursleys."_

_Hagrid wiped his nose on his sleeve as Dumbledore walked forward and placed Harry and the note on the doorstep._

_"Where is Harry going?" Elizabeth asked._

_"To stay with your aunt and uncle," Minerva said gently. "You're going with your godfather until Harry is old enough to understand that you both are children of wizards."_

_Dumbledore gently took Elizabeth's hand._

_"Come with me," he said. She looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy. Then they Disapparated._

_"I be wonderin' why he didn' kill her," Hagrid sniffled._

_"I wonder that as well," Minerva said. "What about the little boy was so important that he tried to kill him? And why did he spare that little girl?"_


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you ready?"

I looked into my mirror one last time and nodded, rolling my hair up in a bun.

"Yes," I said, walking out to the kitchen, where my godfather was sitting at the table with the house keys in his hand.

"Let's get going then," he said. "Are you excited?"

"Of course I'm excited," I said. "Harry's finally going to meet me."

Today was the day when my little brother would meet me for the first time after not having seen me since he was a year old.

When my parents had died, the stress of being separated from them caused some strange reaction in my body. Apparently, the powers I'd inherited from my grandfather and a few more were revealed. I was supposed to grow up with my brother at my uncle and aunt's house but due to the fact I'd never be able to blend into Muggle society as well as my brother, I was sent to live with my godfather.

My dad's dad, Fleamont Potter, was apparently a shapeshifter. This meant he could become any human or magical creature he wanted to be. This is the most draining out of all the powers I have, since I'm altering so much of myself. I have to concentrate really hard to turn into something the turn back, although no concentration is needed to remain in my shifted form. Once when I had the flu I had to stay in bed for half a month and was so bored I turned into a cat to sleep more comfortably except it drained me so much that I wasn't able to change back until I woke up at the end of the month.

It turns out that I can also turn Invisible upon command (which was very scary for me the first time It happened because I couldn't turn myself back for a week). This is fun because I can roam around Hogwarts all night if I want to and even Mrs Norris couldn't prove to Filch that I was really there. It's also perfect for when I'm stuck in an awkward conversation and can easily just slip away... I'm very pleased that my clothes become invisible along with the rest of me because that's a big benefit.

I'm also a mind reader, which is useful since it tells me who I can and cannot trust (I take the whole 'look me in the eye when you shake my hand' thing VERY seriously because I can only read minds through direct eye contact). I do try to only read people's minds when I first meet them though, because it's a little annoying to hear the strange conversations people have with themselves in their heads. I swear that I once heard Bixby telling himself that he was too stupid to pass his Transfiguration test and was better off running away to join a hippogriff circus. He denies it profusely but Batavia and I both reckon he's just a little embarrassed that I found out.

The final power that I seemed to have unlocked is the ability to summon objects out of thin air. Funny story, I discovered I could do this when I thought of summoning all the dogs at the Muggle shelter to my godfather's house to have them as pets. Let me just say my godfather and his friend Kingsley Shacklebolt, who works at the Ministry, had to Obliviate a lot of people that day because the Muggles couldn't grasp the fact that the dogs vanished so suddenly.

So far that's all I've managed to unlock, but Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall agree with my godfather that I MUST have some other power. Batavia and Bixby are betting against Fred and George that my next power will be teleportation but as hard as I try, I can't seem to do it.

Currently, I have finished my first year at Hogwarts and am about to start my second year. Technically I could have already been in third year but Hogwarts has a cutoff date for births. I was born a day after it, which means I'm one of the oldest second years- I otherwise would have been one of the youngest third years. Fred and George call me a baby for that and I have to constantly remind them that this 'baby' happens to be the only reason their pranks ever fully work.

I was sorted into Gryffindor, which makes me proud because that's the house my Mum and Dad were in. My godfather reckons I'd have made a very good Ravenclaw too, which I don't believe because my work ethic is the worst. Sure, since I'm only 12 everyone says it's alright if I have bad habits now but personally I doubt that will ever improve because with two sets of twins as my best friends, there is no hope for me actually doing my homework instead of talking to them. We have interesting conversations. Once, George and I almost convinced Bixby and Fred that Professor Hearst, our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, had come from Russia to take our brains to sell them to goblins in Albania for basilisk venom.

My best friends, as you may have guessed, are Bixby and Batavia Hoganson, who are both in my year. Bixby is a lot like me, really rebellious in nature and smart, but with no motivation whatsoever to actually do something with the intelligence we were gifted with. Batavia is a little quieter and she is a very hard worker. Usually it's up to her to make sure Bixby and I don't end up in detention with Fred and George more than once a week.

Fred and George are my other two best friends. They're third years, and they're the funniest and liveliest guys you'll ever meet. Fred's a bit more energetic than George, which is primarily how I tell them apart. They like pranking people a lot and rely on me to make sure the pranks go well once they've planned them. I'm in charge of finding spells that'll help us get the prank right, which is no easy task.

My godfather says I'm a lot like my dad, which is strange to a lot of people considering the fact that I'm an exact replica of my mother, green eyes and all. She was a very good student and always stayed out of trouble, which isn't very true for me.

According to my godfather, the only real 'sort of' trouble she got into was getting pregnant with me in her seventh year, which he says was the funniest thing to all of my dad and mum's friends since my mum rejected my dad for six years.

Personally, I'd rather be more like my dad who really enjoyed his Hogwarts experience, detentions and all. I suppose that since I look so much like my mum everyone expects me to be just like her, but I don't want to do that. Lily Evans was graceful, she was kind, she was quiet, she was, in every essence, a flower. But I'm Elizabeth Potter. I'm a klutz, I'm pretty straightforward with people (which means I'm rude without truly meaning to be) and I'm very, very loud. In every essence... I'm, well... I'm me and that's equivalent to being in the company of a really hyper kangaroo. I'm not a flower, and I don't plan to be one.

"We're almost there," my godfather said as we walked into the Leaky Cauldron and through the wall to Diagon Alley.

"I can't wait to see him," I said, grinning at him. "I wonder how he looks now. Damn- er I mean darn those Muggles for not wanting me to meet him."

"Yes, darn them," my godfather said. "Try not to use any of that foul language around him, he's only 11."

"Well he'll learn it soon enough, I learned all that by the time I was 11-"

"Yes, I wonder how that came about," my godfather said. "Although I wouldn't be surprised if Molly's twins and the Hoganson twins taught you a thing or two about it since I never cursed."

"They taught me some things," I said. "But I did learn that big 'F' one from you that time when-"

"Let's not talk about that," my godfather said gently, suppressing a laugh.

I can't remember much about Harry, and he surely doesn't remember me. The earliest memory I really have was the night my parents died, but even that is in only bits and pieces. All I remember is confusion, fear, and turning into a lion.

After that it was only living with my godfather, then with Mr and Mrs Weasley on the full moon nights when he had to become a werewolf. I don't like how my godfather always calls himself a monster. A monster couldn't have taught me to tie my shoes, or what 'convalesce' means, or how to play Quidditch, or how to brew Potions just as well as him and my mum did by the time I was nine. He's not a monster at all... I just need someway to prove that to him.

"Ah, there they are," my godfather said, waving at Hagrid, Hogwarts' gamekeeper. Beside Hagrid was a little boy, who was very thin, and had round glasses and green eyes just like mine.

"Harry!" I cried, running full speed towards him and throwing my arms around him, which startled him a bit.

"E-Elizabeth?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said. "But everyone calls me Beth so you can too! Oh Merlin you're so big! Happy birthday!"

"She be soundin' like a mother," Hagrid said with a chuckle. "'Lo, Beth."

"Hi Hagrid!" I said. "And of course I sound like a mother, the last time I saw him I could pick him up and his hand could barely wrap around my finger!"

Harry smiled to me, apparently contemplating my appearance a lot.

"Honestly, you don't look anything like how I imagined you to look, when they told me you existed," Harry said. "I thought your hair might be the same color as mine."

"She's the spitting image of your mother, Harry," my godfather said. "Pleased to meet you by the way, Remus Lupin. I was one of your dad's bestfriends."

"Hi," Harry said, shaking his hand.

"Why are you so thin?" I asked. "You look underfed..."

"I sort of am underfed," Harry said. "Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon-"

"Sound like right arses- I mean... er... really mean Muggles," I said, as I caught sight of a reproachful look from my godfather.

"She's just as charismatic as James was with foul language," my godfather said to Hagrid.

"Cool," Harry said, smiling.

"Not cool," my godfather said.

"Well, come on Harry! Let's go buy you your supplies," I said, grabbing his hand to take him down to the Quidditch store where I was going to buy him his books.

"So how have you been these past ten years?" I asked once we'd moved on to the robe shop.

"I've been alright," he said. "It's been a bit sucky living under the stairs until about a month ago and having to deal with Dudley and Uncle Vernon, but I suppose it will be better when I go live with you and Uncle Remus."

"Harry," I said, frowning slightly. "No no... I'll be coming to live with you now. You can't leave that place, there's protection there for you."

"Oh," he said, a bit sadly. "Well... it'll be better at least... you know more spells than I do."

"We can't curse them, silly," I said.

"They don't know that," Harry said.

"Hello dears!" Madam Malkin said, swooping over us.

"Hello," I said. "Harry here needs to be fitted up, please."

"Certainly!" She said. "Right this way."

Madam Malkin led Harry and I to the back of the shop. She put Harry onto a stool and began to fit him.

"Hello," a white blond haired boy said. "Hogwarts too?"

"Yep," Harry said.

"My father's next door buying me books and mother's up the street looking at wands," the boy said. "But after this I'll be dragging them to the Quidditch store to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and smuggle it in somehow."

"First years can't have brooms because they can't try out for the team," I said. "It's rules. You could try and smuggle one in, but you'd be caught right away."

"Hmm," the boy said, clearly not caring about anything I'd just said. "Either of you got a broom?"

"No," Harry said.

"I do," I said. "I'm trying out for the team this year."

"What House?" The boy asked.

"Gryffindor," I said.

"Oh," the boy said, unamused. "Well, I expect I'll be sorted into Slytherin. My whole family's been in it. If I get Hufflepuff I think I'll leave."

"There's nothing wrong with Hufflepuff," I said irritably. "Loads better than those Slytherin blokes, I expect you're one of those stuck up Purebloods aren't you?"

"Stuck up Purebloods?" The boy asked. "I bet your parents are Muggles, aren't they?"

"As a matter of fact," I said coldly, "my parents were a witch and wizard, same as yours."

"Were?" The boy asked. "What's happened to them."

"They're dead," I snapped.

"Oh sorry," the boy said, although he certainly did not sound sorry. His eyes met mine and I seeped onto his mind.

_They're not Mudbloods? That's weird, they don't LOOK like wizard children. Wonder what their surname is? I wonder if they're part of a big wizard family and I've just never met them._

Disgusted, I exited his mind and just shook my head.

"You're a right prick," I said, which made both Harry and the boy look at me wide eyed.

"What did you just call me?" The boy demanded.

"A prick," I said. "You said 'Mudbloods.' That's a foul thing to say."

The boy turned very pink. "How- I didn't say that!"

"You thought it," I said flatly.

"But- did you read my mind?"

Harry turned to me, looking amused.

"Yes I did," I said.

The boy looked indignant. Madam Malkin finished fitting his robes and he left a bit angrily.

"That must be a Malfoy," I said. "Foul gits they are, I've heard all about them from Fred and George- hey, maybe I can introduce you to their brother Ron on the first before boarding the Hogwarts Express. He's your age."

"I'd like that," Harry said. "Wow- you can read people's minds?"

"And turn invisible," I said, vanishing from sight. Madam Malkin looked dumbfounded when I reappeared.

"What else can you do?" Harry asked excitedly.

I held my hand out and a cup of tea appeared. Then I snapped my fingers and it disappeared. Then I turned into a small bird, flew around Harry's head twice, and landed beside him with a grin on my face.

"Wow!" Harry said. "How come I can't do that?"

"I dunno," I said. "It's cool and all but a bit of a burden sometimes. Whenever I get really emotional something random will happen. Once, I was so angry at Gianne Eddy for ripping my blouse than I summoned several fruit cakes onto the laps of everyone in my Charms class."

"That sounds like a good laugh," Harry said.

"I suppose so," I said, handing Madam Malkin some Galleons as she finished fitting Harry. "Come on, let's go get your other supplies."

It took a lot of begging to convince Harry not to buy a solid gold cauldron instead of a pewter, like it said on his list. I managed to get him to buy some scales for weighing ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope which was much nicer than the one I had, which belonged to my mum- although I wouldn't trade it for all the telescopes in Hogwarts.

Then we met up with Hagrid and my godfather again for ice cream. Hagrid then bought Harry a snowy white owl, which he named Hedwig.

To conclude Harry's visit to Diagon Alley, I led him by the hand into Ollivander's to get his wand.

"Woah," Harry said, looking around the dusty shop. "This is really happening."

"Of course it is!" I said. "Boy, I can't wait to see you get your wand. It's the best moment of you life!"

"Good afternoon," said Ollivander behind us, making me smile and turn Harry around to face him.

"Hi Mr Ollivander," I said. "It's Harry's turn for a wand now."

"Ah yes, I thought I'd be seeing you soon, Harry Potter!" Ollivander said. "You have your mother's eyes, just like your sister. My my... it seems only yesterday she was here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work.

"Your father, on the other hand, had a mahogany wand. Eleven inches, pliable, excellent for Transfiguration with quite a bit more power.

"And your sister. Mahogany as well, ten and a half inches, dragon heartstring core. Very good for Transfiguration as well and quite flexible. How do you find it, my dear?"

"Oh it's excellent," I said. "You're right about it being good for Transfiguration."

"I expect so," Ollivander said, a twinkle in his eye. "Just like your father, I bet, one of the best in the class for Transfiguration?"

"Right around," I said.

"Very glad to hear that, Miss Potter!" Ollivander said, turning to look at Harry again. He gently reached out to touch the lightning scar on my brother's forehead. "ahh.. that's where.... I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did that. Thirteen and a half inches, yew, powerful, flexible... if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do."

I gulped slightly, seeing Harry looked a little grim.

"And you my dear," Ollivander said to me, pushing my hair out of my face and seeing no scar on my forehead. "No scar..."

I looked into his eyes.

_I wonder why he didn't leave her with a scar... what is it that he wanted with a baby who was just a mere year old? What about the girl made him leave her unharmed? If he'd killed the boy then what would he have done with the girl? Was he planning to take her with him?_

Believe me, Ollivander, I thought, I wonder the exact same thing everyday. Because all I remember is that man killing my mum (although at the time I didn't really understand death and vaguely remember thinking that my mum and dad were playing a really cruel game), looking at me, then turning his wand to my brother and firing a spell that blew the whole top of the house up and made him disappear.

Ollivander finally managed to find Harry a wand, which he found curious.

"What's curious about it?" Harry asked.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr Potter," Ollivander said. "Every single wand. It just so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand gave another feather... just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when it's brother gave you that scar."

I looked at Harry, who had turned pale.

"Curious how these things happen...The wand chooses the wizard, Mr Potter," Ollivander said. "I think we must expect great things from you. After all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things... terrible yes, but great...."

"Well er- thanks, Mr Ollivander," I said quickly, paying for the wand and leading Harry out of the store.

"Everyone thinks I'm special," Harry said miserably. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron were excited when I arrived. Professor Quirrell... Mr Ollivander... but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I don't have all those awesome powers you have, I don't have all the knowledge of magic that you've had since birth. I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened the night our parents died."

"Oh Harry," I said. "If I could forget what I saw that night, I would."

Harry looked at me, his eyes wide. "Y-You remember?"

"Yes," I said. "I remember most of it. I remember you crying for so long when he gave you that scar. I remember running around the house trying to wake mum and dad up because I didn't know they were dead, I just thought they were playing a really mean game. I remember Hagrid arriving and taking us out of there, flying us to Aunt Petunia's house. I don't want to remember that, Harry. I don't.

"All that matters is that you did something incredible that night. We don't know how or why but you defeated the man who killed our parents, who killed so many people, who did- like Ollivander said- terrible things.

"If you could do that before turning two, then you'll catch up on magic soon enough. Everyone starts at the bottom in first year, I know I did. Just be yourself, even if everyone tries to single you out. You're going to have a great time at Hogwarts. And if you aren't having one, just tell me and I'll hex whoever makes it miserable for you."

Harry smiled. "Thanks Elizabeth- er, I mean Beth."

"You get to call me either one," I said. "Come on, Hagrid and Uncle Remus are over there, let's go to them."

"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts," Hagrid said as soon as we walked up, handing a ticket to Harry. "First o' September. King's Cross. It's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, you send me or yer sister an owl. Hedwig will be able to find us. See yeh soon, Harry... Elizabeth."

"Bye Hagrid!" I said, waving as he left.

"So what now?" Harry asked my godfather. "Is Elizabeth coming with me?"

"Not yet, Harry," my godfather said. "But soon. We'll take you home now, so Elizabeth can meet your aunt. Come on now..."

My godfather grabbed both our hands and we Disapparated straight onto the doorstep of a Muggle house.

Harry nearly fell onto his bottom but I managed to catch him.

"Ooh that was your first time Side Along Apparating, wasn't it?" I said.

"Yeah," Harry said, looking queasy.

"You'll get used to it eventually," my godfather said, smiling. He rang the doorbell.

After about a minute, a blonde woman with a bit of a bony face opened the door.

"Oh," she said, looking at Harry. "Get inside."

"Don't talk to him like that," I snapped, which made my godfather shoot me a warning look.

My Aunt Petunia turned to me.

"Elizabeth," she said slowly. "You look exactly like Lily..."

"So I've been told," I said. "Listen you'd better be nice-"

"Time to go, Elizabeth," my godfather piped up, smiling courteously at my aunt. "Come along now."

"But-"

"Come along."

I reluctantly grabbed his arm, scowling. Harry waved at me one last time before we appeared back outside my godfather's house, right in the middle of a Muggle neighborhood.

"Did you see the way she looked at him?" I shrieked. "Like she didn't give a damn-"

"Language," my godfather reminded me.

"-like she didn't CARE that he was back at all and would've rather he didn't return," I said. "That's rude of her! He's her nephew!"

"Your aunt never liked your father much," my godfather said. "Never liked the concept of magic, from what Lily told me. Harry will be alright."

"But he said they were starving him! Can't we bring him with us?"

"I wish we could, Elizabeth. But Dumbledore's orders."

I sighed. "Well Dumbledore won't be able to stop me from giving her a piece of my mind next time I see her."


	3. Chapter 3

On September 1st, I waited anxiously at the entrance of King's Cross Station for Harry to come.

I was starting to worry that perhaps those damn Muggles wouldn't bring him but then I saw him in the distance, waving to me, holding Hedwig in her cage.

"I'll leave you two to board now," my godfather said when Harry joined us. "Have a very good year."

"Thanks!" I said. "We'll see you soon, hopefully."

My godfather hugged us tight then smiled, leaving me to take Harry down to platform nine and three quarters.

"Elizabeth there has to be some mistake," Harry said. "There isn't a platform nine and three quarters anywhere."

"Yes there is," I said. "The Muggles just don't know it's there. Oh look! There are the Weasleys!"

I grabbed Harry's hand and we pulled our carts toward them.

"Mrs Weasley!" I called, waving my hand in the air.

She turned and her eyes brightened.

"Elizabeth!" She said. "Oh, is that Harry?"

"Yes!" I said, hugging her.

"How are you dears?" She asked, pulling Harry in for a hug too.

"Really good!" I said. "Hi Percy, hi Fred, hi George, hi Ron, hi Ginny!"

"Hello, Elizabeth," Percy said cordially.

"Hi!" Ginny said excitedly, looking at Harry with wide eyes.

"Hey Elizabeth," Ron said, smiling to Harry. "I'm Ron."

"Harry Potter," Harry said, shaking all their hands.

I felt someone pick me up and spin me around.

"George, put her down!" Mrs Weasley said.

"Alright Mum," George said. "How's our mastermind?"

"I'm good," I said. "How are you two?"

"we're excellent," Fred said. "We've got seven pranks planned so far. Have you heard from Batavia or Bixby?"

"Nah, they went to America over the summer," I said. "Didn't owl anyone because of the distance. I expect we'll see them on the train, they're probably already on board. You know Batavia likes to get there extra early."

"I'd expect so," George said. "How was your summer?"

"It was great!" I said. "I got to meet Harry, and I practiced turning into a baby unicorn. It was a bit difficult but I've got the hang of it."

"Excellent, we'll be needing to see that," Fred said. "Need help with your trunk, Harry?"

Harry nodded, trying desperately to stop his trunk from falling off as he positioned himself to go through the barrier as Percy had just done.

George helped him set his trunk right on his cart.

"Now just run straight into the wall," Mrs Weasley said.

Harry looked at me, and I beckoned him forward. He took a deep breath and did just as he was told, disappearing into the brick wall.

"Aw damn we missed the chance to tell him to do it on the other end of it," I said. "It would've been funny to see him just crash into it."

"We we're going to do that to ickle Ron too, weren't we Fred?" George asked with a grin. "But Mum forbade it, said it was too mean... pity really, hey, do you think Harry and Ron will be friends?"

"They'd better be," I said. "We're friends, so they should be friends."

"Weasleys and Potters go together like biscuits and milk, eh?" George said. I nodded, laughing.

"Alright Fred, George, Elizabeth," Mrs Weasley said. "Now you go."

I nodded and went right into the wall, followed closely by the twins.

Harry was on the other side, gawking at the Hogwarts Express.

"He's in looooove," I cooed, leaning on George and giggling.

"You were in love with Oliver Wood, remember, Beth?" George asked with a smirk. I smacked his arm.

"You shut it!" I hissed.

"He's Quidditch captain this year," Fred piped up. "When you make it on the team you'll get loads of quality time with him..."

"Might even get a snog or two," George added.

"He's fifteen!" I said.

"And you'll be thirteen in three months time," George said. "Not too big of an age gap. I'd be more worried if Ginny liked him."

"Yes, can't have the littlest sister falling for Wood. But our little sister- that being you- is alright," Fred said.

"Gee I'm excited," I said sarcastically.

"Ron, you've got something on your nose," I heard Mrs Weasley say. I turned to see she'd interrupted Harry, Ron, and Ginny's conversation to wipe his nose. Ginny giggled, but Ron turned pink and tried to swipe her hands away.

"Aah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" Fred asked.

"Shut up," Ron said.

"Where's Percy?" Mrs Weasley asked as she put the handkerchief away.

"He's over there," I said. "Heading this way."

Percy wasn't the oldest Weasley, but he sure acted like he was. According to the twins, he was much more of a law abiding citizen than their oldest brother Bill. I'd met Charlie last year, since he'd been the seventh year Gryffindor prefect. I knew he was rebellious too, but stayed in line enough to have achieved Prefect.

"Can't stay long, Mother," Percy said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves-"

"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" George asked, smirking at me. "You should have said something, we had no idea!"

"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," Fred said, staring quizzically at George. "Once-"

"Or twice," I added with a grin.

"A minute-" George said.

"All summer!" Fred concluded.

"Oh shut up," Percy said, rolling his eyes.

Mrs Weasley kissed him on the cheek and sent him off, then turning to the twins and I.

"Now you three be good," she said sternly. "I don't want a letter saying you've blown up a toilet or-"

"Blown up a toilet?" George asked. "We've never blown up a toilet."

"Great idea though, thanks Mum!" Fred said. "You up for it, Beth?"

"Don't help them even if they try, Elizabeth!" Mrs Weasley said, although she was slightly smiling. "Look after Harry and Ron, all of you."

"Ickle Ronniekins is safe with us!" Fred said.

"Shut up," Ron said again.

"Aw can't you take me with you?" Ginny asked, which made Harry smile.

"Don't worry Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls," Fred assured her.

"And pastries," I said, "if it's alright with your Mum."

"And a Hogwarts toilet seat," George added.

"George!" Mrs Weasley said.

"Only joking, Mum," George said, making me grin.

The train whistle blew.

"Come on, Harry!" I said, urging him and Ron to hop onto the train. "Bye Mrs Weasley! Bye Ginny!"

"Take care!" Mrs Weasley said as Ginny waved to us excitedly.

I helped Harry get his trunk inside and led him to an empty compartment.

"Why don't you two get settled here?" I asked, waving for Ron to follow Harry inside.

"Thanks," Ron said.

"Are you leaving to sit with Fred and George?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Unless you want me to stay."

"Nah," Harry said. "I'll get to know Ron, I'll see you at school."

"See you!" I said, following Fred and George down the long aisle of the train to our usual compartment way in the back.

Batavia and Bixby were inside, arguing about something. Lee Jordan was sitting across from them, waiting patiently for us.

"Beth!" Batavia said. "Oh you're here- tell this idiot-"

"Watch who you're calling an idiot!" Bixby snapped.

"-this _idiot_ ," Batavia repeated icily. "That there's no such thing as Crumple Horned Snorkacks!"

"Well," I said, making both twins look at me expectantly, "there isn't proof of them but that doesn't mean they don't exist."

"Ha!" Bixby said. "You owe me three Sickles."

"As if!" Batavia scoffed. "YOU owe ME three Sickles because I bet that the Chudley Cannons would beat the Tornadoes and I was RIGHT."

"Love this family," George said. "Never a dull moment."

"Me too," I said, sitting next to Bixby and dodging a slap that Batavia aimed at him.

"Well?" Lee asked. "Did you decide yet, Beth?"

"I decided to try out for Chaser," I said, which made both sets of twins sigh loudly.

"But you'd make a better Seeker!" Bixby said, which Batavia nodded enthusiastically to.

"I actually agree with that!" Batavia said, earning an annoyed glare from Bixby.

"Beth, we'll be needing a Seeker now that Charlie's gone," Fred said. "Couldn't you consider-?"

"I have a good feeling about leaving that position vacant," I said. "Chaser is calling me."

"Alright," Lee said. "Good choice- we'll be needing good flyers on that position. Oh, face it George, she's much more useful to the team as a Chaser anyway. Seekers hardly get any action."

"Aw I guess," George said. "I reckon you'd make a good Seeker though, Beth."

"Maybe next year," I said. "I'll see how I feel playing Chaser this time around."

"I'm going to try out for manager," Batavia said brightly, which made everyone turn to her.

"Batavia I already told you there isn't such thing-" Bixby began.

"Yes there is!" She said. "Ravenclaw's got a manager, what do you think Jasper Riggs follows Davies around for?"

"Oh I get it," George said, grinning. "You want to be closer to Wood."

"That's not true!" Batavia said, although she turned pink. She had a full on crush on Oliver Wood since last year when she first heard him speak. Said his voice was music to her ears or something of that nature.

"Merlin's beard, Oliver Wood isn't leaving any girls for us," Fred said. "Angelina, Alicia, and Katie all like him too! Who're we going to date once we turn fifteen?"

"Why fifteen?" Bixby asked.

"Well Mum says we can't date until fifteen," George said.

"Ha!" Bixby said. "My mother says I can date whenever I want just as long as I don't cause any accidents-"

"-like Beth's birth-"

"I didn't tell you that piece of information for you to make a joke out of it!" I hissed, although I laughed immediately afterward.

"Well you can't expect us to just be silent when we know something like that," George said. "You chose to tell us that you were essentially and accident, so you set it up for us to use as a joke."

"Your face is a joke," Batavia said, which made everyone go silent.

"Wasn't that funny?" She asked, looking afraid.

"It was but holy Dumbledore, Batavia," Lee said. "You usually don't make jokes like that. Or make jokes at all."

"Oh," she said. "Well I'm starting to."

"Atta kid!" Fred said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oi, so, what's this about your brother coming to Hogwarts?" Bixby asked me.

"Well it means exactly that," I said. "My little brother is a first year this time around."

"Awesome!" Bixby said. "Has he got that scar?"

"Yes but don't pester him about it, please," I said. "I don't think he'll want people to mention it."

"Well they'll mention it anyway, he's famous," Bixby said. "Not as famous as you of course."

"Why would I be more famous?" I asked.

"Well you've got the powers and you don't have a scar," Lee said. "Everyone wonders why You Know Who left you alone."

"I wonder that too," I said. "Can we please change the subject?"

"Yeah," George said quickly, seeing I was uncomfortable. "Er- did you uh... did you know... uh... Fred- a little help?"

"I dunno mate," Fred said. "I dunno what to talk about."

"Alright, then I'll bring something up," Batavia said. "Who do all of you fancy?"

There was a collective groan in the compartment.

"We know YOU and the rest of the Gryffindor girls fancy Wood-"

"Oh shut it," I said with a grin. "Well Batavia, you know who I fancy."

"What?" George asked indignantly. "You told her and you didn't tell us?"

"She's the only other girl here!" I said. "Of course I'd tell her."

"Hey you aren't one hundred percent a girl," Bixby said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"You can morph into a guy if you want to," he said.

"Oh that's ridiculous," I said. "That doesn't count. Besides, why would I morph into a guy?"

"To turn into Oliver Wood and do Batavia a favor-"

"Shut it," I said, rolling my eyes. "Or I'll turn into a rat and bite you."

"Oh I'm so scared!" George said. "What are you going to do, give me rabies?"

"Well I dunno if I have rabies in rat form," I said. "Care to test it out?"

"I'm good thanks," George said quickly.

Batavia giggled. "Tell me, all of you! Who do you fancy?"

"You're still persisting with that?" Bixby groaned. "Cmon Tav, I don't want to say..."

"I propose that whatever is said in this compartment stays in this compartment!" She said. "So tell me."

Lee shrugged. "I fancy Alicia Spinnet, although I don't think that's a secret."

"Yeah that's not a secret," I said. "Especially not since you told her you fancied her...."

"Oh right, I did tell her, didn't I?" Lee said. "Well she fancied me back but at age twelve, ah what can you do?"

"Now you tell me, Fred!" Batavia said.

"Alright, no shame," he said. "Angelina Johnson."

"No surprise there," Bixby said, which I nodded to.

"Bixby!" Batavia said.

"Katie Bell, are you happy?" He asked.

"Oooh very," Batavia said. "She's in our year...we could totally set you two up!"

"Let's not do that," Bixby said.

"Alright," Batavia said, disappointed. "What about you, George?"

"Nobody," he said. "Not necessarily thinking about that at the moment."

"You're no fun," Batavia said. "I won't ask who Beth fancies, I already know that..."

"Tell us!" George said. "Cmon Beth, we want to know too..."

"Nah," I said. "I'm good."

"We said who we fancied!" Fred protested.

Batavia looked at me, winking three times fast to signal me to read her thoughts so she could ask me a question. I looked straight into her eyes.

_Is it still that Muggle boy you mentioned that lives in your neighborhood? Walter or Wesley or something of that sort?_

I nodded, then concentrated to speak back to her.

" _Wyatt_."

She nodded, smiling.

"Aw damn she just did the thing where they talk in Batavia's head!" Bixby said. "Why won't you tell us?"

"It's not information you need to know," I said simply.

"Party pooper," Lee said. "Hey look... trolley!"

I opened the compartment door to find the Trolley Witch with her cart.

"Anything off the trolley dears?" She asked.

"Licorice wand please," I said. Everyone began to put in their orders. Batavia looked at me again.

_Didn't you say last year that you were starting to fancy George?_

_Sort of._

Batavia smirked, which made Bixby whine again.

"Tell us!" He insisted.

"Nah," I said. "Who's up for a game of wizard's chess?"

"I am!" George said.

We played games for the rest of the journey to Hogwarts. When we arrived, we boarded the carriages and began to head to the castle.

"I'd be funny if the boats tipped over," George said. "Ickle Ron and Harry can take a swim..."

"The boats tipped over last year, remember?" Bixby asked. "The boat in front of me carrying Eunice, Xavier, and Daniela flipped over."

"That was funny," I said. "Never seen Xavier look angrier... I think he was midway through showing off the quality of his robes..."

We sat down in the Great Hall, waiting for the first years. When they came in, I saw Harry and Ron near the back gawking at everything in sight.

"They look like morons," Fred said.

"Aw be nice," I said. "I bet we all looked like that entering this place for the first time."

"I sincerely doubt I looked as dumb as Ronniekins," George said.

"You always look as dumb as Ronniekins," I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

After the Sorting Hat sang its song, Ron shot Fred a nasty glare.

"Aha!" George said. "He remembered!"

"Remembered what?" Batavia asked.

"I told him he was going to have to wrestle a troll in front of the whole school to get sorted," Fred said with a grin.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," Professor McGonagall announced, which I noticed made a girl with bushy hair standing in front put on a determined face.

"Abbot, Hannah!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"I remember last year the hat told me I had a very good mind for Slytherin," Bixby said. "But Mum and Dad would kill me if I ended up there."

"Why?" Lee asked.

"Well all our family's been Gryffindor," he said. "They reckon only evil wizards go to Slytherin."

"Gee, you're the opposite of Malfoy," I said. "That white blond kid that just looks like a prat."

"What is a prat supposed to look like, Beth?" George asked.

"Like you," I said.

"Hey I look just like him that's an insult to me as well," Fred said, making me laugh.

"Granger, Hermione!"

The determined looking girl with the bushy hair ran to the stool.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Huh, she struck me more as a Ravenclaw," I said. "Oh well- here she comes."

Hermione Granger sat near us where the table began to extend itself for accommodating the incoming first years.

"Hello!" She said.

"Hi," I replied. "Nice to meet you, I'm Elizabeth Potter."

"YOU'RE Elizabeth Potter?" She asked, gawking at me. "It's a pleasure to meet you, wow! Can you really turn invisible and read minds and summon things out of thin air and shapeshift?"

I response, I held out my hand and summoned a goblet of pumpkin juice for her, which she took happily.

"Wow!" She said. "Wow... wow... I'm Muggleborn, you see, and I thought all wizards and witches could do things like this but apparently you're one of the only ones!"

"It seems so," I said. "My grandfather could shapeshift too- but he could also memorize textbooks word for word without reading them. He'd just hold the book in the palm of his hand, concentrate, and be able to tell you exact what was on what page."

"That's incredible!" Hermione said, which made Batavia beam at her almost as if she was already considering her like a little sister.

"Potter, Harry!"

"Ooh he's going up!" I said excitedly.

Harry made eye contact with me at the last second, which allowed me to seep into his mind and hear what the Hat said to him.

_Hmm... difficult... very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, and my goodness a nice thirst to prove yourself. That's interesting._

_Not Slytherin, thought Harry._

_Just like your sister, eh? She also begged me not to put her in Slytherin. You could be great you know. She missed her chance but it's there for you.. no? Well if you're sure, better be..._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

I cheered loudly for Harry and grinned as I waved him over to sit with us.

"We got both Potters!" George yelled. Fred, Bixby, and Lee began to chant along with him, which made Batavia and I roll our eyes.

"I didn't know the hat tried to put you in Slytherin," Harry said.

"It did," I said. "I refused."

"Weasley, Ronald!"

"I bet Slytherin," Fred said.

"I bet Hufflepuff," George said.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry and I cheered loudly as Ron came over, collapsing into the seat across from us.

"Well done, Ron, excellent," Percy said happily, moving to sir closer to us.

"Welcome!" Dumbledore said, standing up. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. Here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

"Thank you!" George and I said loudly, making everyone around us laugh.

"Is he a bit mad?" Harry asked, almost fearfully.

"Mad? He's a genius!" Percy said. "Best wizard in the world! But a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, anyone?"

I saw Harry look down. His mouth fell open and his eyes widened as he contemplated the table, which was now full of plates loaded with food.

"Woah," Harry said.

"Dig in!" I said. "Here you'll have plenty to eat. Just you wait until I move there with you, I'll make sure they never starve you again!"

"Thanks," Harry said, putting some ham on his plate.

About halfway into the meal, Harry hissed and touched his scar.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said.

"You touched your scar," I said.

"It just hurt a bit," Harry said. "It's fine."

I looked at him suspiciously.

"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrel?" Harry asked.

"That's Professor Snape," Percy piped up. "He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to. Everyone knows he's after Quirrels job as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Knows an awful lot about Dark Arts, Snape."

"He hates all Gryffindors," George said.

"Not true," Bixby said.

"What do you mean not true?" Fred asked.

"He adores Beth," Bixby said. "Never even gotten her in trouble."

"Well she's the most advanced in our class," Batavia said. "Aren't you getting skipped a level?"

"For Potions yes," I said. "I'll be in class with you, Fred, George, Lee."

"Awesome!" George said. "Maybe you can stop us from failing."

"Wait why does he like Elizabeth so much?" Harry asked. "And how come he doesn't like the others?"

"Well Beth is, as we already established, the best in the class," Batavia said. "Other than that I can't imagine why he likes her so much. Remember when you broke his scales last year, Beth? He didn't even scold you or anything, he just asked you to be a little more careful next time."

"What?" Percy asked in disbelief. "That's amazing, Elizabeth. When a Gryffindor in my class dropped a clover for a potion he took ten points away!"

"She's always the favorite," George said. "McGonagall loves her. Always telling us how 'a first year student' was doing so well."

"She got bumped up a level for Transfiguration too," Bixby said with a grin.

"Another class with Beth?" George asked. "Oh Freddie, we are passing Potions and Transfiguration this year!"

I laughed, and Dumbledore stood up to speak again.

"Just a few words now that we are all fed and watered," Dumbledore said. "First years should note that the forest on the rounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

He flashed both sets of twins, Lee, and I a wink.

"What did you do?" Ron asked eagerly.

"We just went in to see if Beth could turn into a bowtruckle and next thing we knew we'd been caught and had to explain why we were all covered in bowtruckles from head to toe," George said.

"That sounds awesome!" Harry said.

"...and finally I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harry gave a nervous laugh. "Is he serious?"

"Probably," I said. "That's not stopping us of course."

"You'll get in trouble, won't you?" Harry asked.

"One thing you'll learn about me, Harry," I said with a mischievous grin, "is that I'm quite a bit like dad. I have a whole desk in detention reserved for me."

"Here's an idea," George piped up. "We'll send Ginny a Hogwarts toilet seat AND a picture of all of us with whatever creature in there that'll be trying to kill us."


	4. Chapter 4

"N-Now l-l-listen u-up," Professor Quirrel stammered, making Bixby roll his eyes.

"That's so rude!" I said, making him just roll his eyes again. "Not his fault he has a stutter."

It seemed Quirrel had heard me, because he turned in my direction. I decided this was my chance to see if he could be trusted, so I looked right into his eyes.

There was a scream in my head, a bright flashing light, and a wave of pain shooting across my temples.

I blinked rapidly about twenty times before the pain went away.

"What?" Bixby asked.

"I-I dunno," I said. "I tried to read his mind and I couldn't. It really hurt- there was a scream and I saw this weird, very bright light."

"Maybe he's an Occlumens," Bixby said. "It's built in for him to stop people from reading his mind."

"Maybe," I said. "Next time I try to read someone's mind I'll ask if they're an Occlumens because that hurt."

"T-t-today w-w-we are g-going t-t-to learn the I-Incendio Charm," Quirrel said. "P-Please t-t-try not t-to burn y-yourself."

"Aw that defeats the purpose of doing this," Bixby said. "It's all about the risks."

I nodded and pointed my wand at the parchment in front of me. It caught fire for a moment and extinguished.

"So are you going to tell me?" Bixby asked.

"Tell you what?" I asked. "How to do the spell?"

"Oh, that too," Bixby said. "But I'd rather like to know who you fancy."

"I'm not going to tell you."

"A hint then."

"Nah."

"You're no fun."

"So I've been told."

"Why even keep it a secret?" Bixby sighed. "Don't you think we're all going to find out anyway?"

"I expect you will eventually," I said. "But I don't have to tell you anything. The information isn't relevant to you."

"Yes it is!" Bixby said. "Aw come on, Beth, we could help set you up with the guy..."

"He's a Muggle, okay?" I asked a bit coldly as I set the rest of the parchment on fire. "Dunno why it matters so much to you."

"Oh," Bixby said. "Oh..."

"You sound disappointed."

"I am."

"It's because he's a Muggle, isn't it?"

"No not at all I was just expecting someone else."

"Who?"

"George."

"George?" I asked, feeling slightly pink. "Why?"

"Well because Batavia always liked the thought of you together and she kind of got me thinking that too," Bixby said.

I had to resist every urge not to seep into his mind. He was lying to me.

"It's not going to happen," I said. "Not yet anyway, I'm not looking for a boyfriend at twelve. My godfather says I can't date until I'm sixteen."

"Well he isn't here," Bixby said. "How could he possibly know?"

"He's friends with almost all the teachers here, he was a former student!" I said. "You best believe he checks in with McGonagall about me all the time, he'd find out right away."

"How would McGonagall find out?" Bixby asked.

"We're in Gryffindor," I said. "George and I will be in her class together from now on. I think she'd find out."

"Hmm," Bixby said. "Well alright."

After Defense I said goodbye to Bixby and Batavia and headed to Transfiguration with the third years, where I found three seats reserved for me.

"Sit with me!" Lee said. Fred and George also waved for me to sit with them.

"I'll sit with Lee," I said. "You two are already sitting together there isn't space."

"I'll push Georgie out of the way," Fred said.

"Not before I push you-"

"No pushing in my class, Misters Weasley," McGonagall said. Then she smiled to me. "Class, I expect you'll make Miss Potter feel welcome even if she's younger. She's skipped a level to join you, and has earned a spot in this class just as much as you have."

Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet turned to face me from the front of the room and waved.

"Alright," McGonagall said. "Today we'll be practicing the Impervius Charm, which we began last year. Previously we worked with small pieces of cloth, today we will be working with your robes. I ask everyone take their top robes off and remain in your shirts, ties, skirts, or pants."

I slipped my robes off and set them on the table. McGonagall stepped closer to me.

"You haven't practiced this yet," she said. "Just try your best, it is alright if you can't do it."

"Okay," I said. "Thank you."

Lee and the twins began to practice the spell. I watched their technique for a bit and then imitated them.

It took a few tries but then-

"Impervius!"

The robes became a little darker. I picked them up and stepped to where McGonagall was at the water basin, ready to test whether the robes became waterproof.

She smiled at me and I dropped the robes in. Then she pulled them out, beaming.

"Very, very good Miss Potter!" She said. "Well now... since you're done.. I must ask, are you trying out for the team after all?"

"Yep!" I said. "I'm going to try and be a Chaser."

"Oh, a very nice choice," she said. "Tryouts are today after dinner, don't be late. Have you got a broom?"

"Yes," I said. "Comet Three Sixty."

"A very good choice," McGonagall said. "Well I am sure you will do very well, Miss Potter. You may return to your seat."

I smiled and walked back to the twins and Lee, who had clearly been attempting to eavesdrop.

"What's old Minnie got to say?" George asked.

"Asking about Quidditch," I said.

"Ah, Quidditch," Fred said. "I love Quidditch."

"Don't we all?" Lee said. "Boy I can't wait to commentate again this year! Last year was great."

"You'll be needing to commentate on how big of a crush Beth has on Wood," George said, winking to me.

"Well Batavia will be the one running after him the majority of the time," I said. "You can commentate on that and how the twins' flys are down."

Both twins looked down abruptly and grinned when they saw I was joking.

The next class was Potions, which I walked to with the twins and Lee by my side.

"Time to see if they're telling the truth about you being Snape's favorite," George said, resting his arm on my shoulder.

"If she is then you owe me four Knuts," Fred said.

"Bet!" George said.

"How will you even prove that?" I asked with a short laugh.

"Let's see, I'll answer a question wrong and you break something and we'll see," George said, winking at me.

"....begin brewing," Snape drawled, which made George shrug.

"No sign of you being the favorite yet," he said. "I'm winning."

"Why has it become a competition?" I asked. "So what if I'm the favorite? It's not like I get anything out of it."

"You get a 'no verbal abuse' pass!" Lee said. "That's a perk in my opinion."

I rolled my eyes and leaned down so the meniscus of the cauldron was eye level to me. I slowly dropped a clover in it then dipped a stirring rod in to stir it.

"Why are you stirring it counterclockwise?" Fred asked. "Instructions say clockwise."

"Watch and see," I said. I stirred three times counterclockwise at a steady pace then five times quickly clockwise. The potion immediately became the intended pale green color.

"Wicked!" Lee said. "No wonder you moved up a level. How did you figure it out?"

"I dunno," I said. "It's just applying theory... when you need to stir clockwise you should always add a few counterclockwise turns for prep. But if you're stirring counterclockwise you never start to stir clockwise."

"I don't understand what you said," George said. "But yes."

He threw the clove in his potion. Immediately the potion began to bubble and fizz, and started spilling out the sides of the cauldron, making me shriek and jump back.

"Pathetic, Weasley!" Snape snarled, waving his wand to vanish the potions. "Did you not read the instructions?"

"I did," George said with a cold tone.

"Read line seventeen for me, then!"

"Slowly drop the clove over the center of the potion."

"Was that slowly, Weasley?" Snape said, narrowing his eyes at George.

"No sir," George said through gritted teeth.

"That's what I thought," Snape said. He looked over my potion. "Very well done, Miss Potter. Clearly the best potion in the class."

Then he walked away, leaving the boys staring at me utterly dumbstruck.

"You owe me four Knuts," Fred whispered in George's ear, which made Lee burst out laughing.

________

"How come Snape hates me?" Harry asked. "He likes you."

"I dunno," I said. "It's a little strange, really. I tried asking Uncle Remus about Snape since he said he knew him but he won't tell me anything."

"Oh well," Harry said. "Maybe you can teach me to be good at potions too!"

"I could try," I said with a laugh.

"Beth!"

I turned and saw Fred and George from the entrance of the hall.

"Oh fuc-I mean darn, I need to leave for tryouts," I said. "Bye Harry."

I waved at him and grabbed my broom, running to meet the twins.

"I'm not late right?" I asked.

"Nah we're going to be early just wanted you to come witness something amazing," George said.

They led me around the hall and peeked their heads past, then beckoning me to look as well.

Batavia was talking to Oliver Wood, and she was doing the thing where she keeps pushing her hair behind her ear- which she does whenever a guy is talking to her.

"Oh sweet Merlin," I said, grinning. "She's really making her move, isn't she?"

"You bet she is!" Fred said, pulling me back the way we'd come. "Batavia Hoganson, the Manager... I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the season she becomes Batavia Hoganson, Wood's girlfriend."

"She wouldn't move that fast," I said. "It's Batavia we're talking about, she's too shy to make a jump like that. It's monumental she's even speaking to him though."

"He might even go for her too," Fred said. "She's pretty, and he's in his OWL year."

"What's that got to do with anything?" I asked.

"Well my dear," George said, resting his arm on my shoulder, "in OWL year the fifth years start losing it."

"That's rude," I said. "If you're implying he'd only date her out of being mentally damaged or something-"

"No no!" George said. "I mean like he's going to be chemically imbalanced..."

"Uh huh," I said. "Yeah, sure."

I kept walking down to the Quidditch pitch, the twins trying desperately to catch up to me.

When we got down there, I found all the Gryffindors that were going to try out for the team were already flying.

"Oh no," I mumbled. "Vince is trying out."

"Vince Ferguson?" Fred asked. "Nah, he's a total nut- oh shit that is him."

"Ah Ferguson can't beat you onto the team," George said. "Don't you worry. Sure he's bigger-"

"-older-"

"-friends with Wood-"

"This isn't helping," I said. "Oh crud there's Wood now, tryouts will start now..."

"And there's our little Batavia by his side," Fred said. "We're proud."

"Alright Gryffindors!" Oliver Wood said. "Good evening. All of you are trying out for Chaser tonight, remember? Seeker tryouts are Thursday evening. If you're not trying for Chaser please step off the field."

To my great relief, Vince Ferguson stepped off to the side.

"Ha!" George said. "Well your spot on the team is basically secured now..."

"Give me two laps and then we start drills!" Oliver said.

I ran over to where Katie Bell was waiting, looking slightly scared.

"Hi," I said as she and I kicked off and began to do our laps.

"Hey," she said breathlessly. "We're the youngest out here."

"Really?" I asked, wincing.

"Yeah," she said. "Oh Merlin I don't know if I'm going to make it anymore..."

"I tell you what," I said, my voice slightly shaky, "we're both going to make it onto the team. Both of us."

"Okay," she said, smiling slightly.

And we did, after getting fourteen Quaffles to our faces and learning three new curse words from Oliver, Dennis Yang, and Isobel Duquette.

"Congratulations, Katie and Elizabeth," Oliver said, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "I'm excited to have two second years with us. You are the youngest but not to worry!"

"Thanks Wood," I said, seeing Batavia standing behind him and staring at him lovingly.

The instant Wood walked away, Katie and I rushed forward to her.

"I saw that!" Katie squealed. "You flirting with Oliver Wood this whole time!"

"Yeah I suppose so," Batavia said, blushing slightly.

"You really just broke out of your shell this year didn't you?" I said. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks Beth," Batavia said. "Maybe I can be his friend by the end of this year and girlfriend before he leaves."

"My God, Batavia, you've got it all planned out, haven't you?" Fred said with a grin as he and George came to join us, also caked with sweat.

George pulled his sleeve up and wiped my cheeks. "You look like you've gone and rolled in the dirt, Beth."

"Well I technically did considering-"

"Oy, Potter!"

I whipped around to see two fifth years, Gerald Janss and Cisco Everett approaching me.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Wanted to say congrats!" Gerald said, shaking my hand very firmly. "How does it feel to know you only made it on because you're a Potter?"

I blinked and stared at him in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"Oh come on, Potter," Cisco said. "You're a girl. You don't really think you got let on because you were good, do you?"

"I do, as a matter of fact," I said coldly. "If the fact I flew better than you offends you then feel free to step away before my talent causes you any pain."

Fred, George, Lee, Katie, and Batavia sniggered, leaving Gerald and Cisco looking stupid.

"If it makes you feel better to say that then go ahead," Cisco said, crossing his arms. "But everyone can tell, you know. We can spot people who get put on teams out of pity."

"Really?" I asked. "Well good thing that applies to you and you didn't make it, now no one will know how little skills you have."

Cisco gritted his teeth painfully loud.

"Back off, Everett," George said, making me look at him quickly.

Gerald and Cisco both growled and turned to leave.

"Oh I hope I can insult people the way you do someday!" Batavia said.

"That was pretty good, Beth," Fred said. "Should've searched through their mind and found some embarrassing fact to use against them, though."

"Hmm I'll do that if they bother me again," I said.

"Potter!"

"What now you bloody-"

I whipped around with a scowl on my face, only to find myself facing Oliver. George muffled his laughter in his hand.

"Oh my Merlin I'm sorry," I stammered. "I thought you were-"

"Gerald and Cisco," Oliver said. "Yeah I saw that. Just letting you know, first years start flying lessons tomorrow. I'd like if you could start teaching your brother to fly properly so he can try out for the team next year."

"Alright," I said. "Thanks."

Oliver nodded to me then to Batavia and walked away.

"Were you going to call him a bloody prat?" Katie asked.

"Yep," I said. "Luckily that didn't manage to come out."

"Yeah thank Merlin for that!" Lee said. "Batavia might've killed you-"

"Hey!"

_________

"Oh my God Harry, SEEKER?" I shrieked, making Harry try to shush me quickly.

"Yes!" He said. "But be quiet-"

"But first years never- you must be the youngest house player in about a century!" I said. "This is amazing."

"Yeah Wood told me that," Harry said. "I start training next week with all of you. Just don't tell anyone. I'm only telling Ron so far. Wood wants to keep it a secret."

"I got you," I said. "Wow Harry-"

"-well done!" George said, coming behind us with Fred. "Wood's just told us."

"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year!" Fred said. "The whole team's going to be really good this year. We got both Potters!"

"Anyway, coming, Beth?" George asked. "Lee reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."

"I bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy we found last year," Fred said.

"I'll come with you," I said. "Congratulations Harry, that's really amazing! I'll write to Uncle Remus tonight."

Then I followed Fred and George up to the fifth floor, where we found Lee waiting with Bixby by Gregory the Smarmy's statue.

"Knew it!" Fred said, which made George whine as he handed him five Knuts.

"We've got that one down," I said, which made Bixby face palm himself.

"I told you they'd know about this one, Lee!" Bixby said.

"Sorry," Lee said. "But hey guess what, now that you're all here, I heard that Harry's got onto the team from Wood!"

"He has," I said. "But don't spread the word yet."

"That's brilliant!" Lee said. "Wow, a first year... Ferguson won't be too pleased."

"If he even tries to say anything I'll turn into a bird and peck at him," I said.

"I reckon we should head back now, curfew is soon," Bixby said.

"And suddenly you follow rules?" Fred asked. "Naw, we can do the thing where we all link arms and Beth makes us all invisible."

"Need I remind you that last time we tried that one of you caused Lee to chip a tooth?" I asked.

"Oh yeah," George said. "Forgot that. Not my fault we couldn't see each other."

"It's too risky right now," I said. "Besides, I'd rather like to hear more about Harry's lessons, let's go back."

The boys nodded and we headed back to the Common Room, where Harry confronted me as soon as we entered.

"Malfoy's challenged me to a wizard's duel at half past eleven!" He said breathlessly.

"Please don't tell me you accepted," I said. Harry nodded grimly.

"I'm his second," Ron said.

"I want to watch," George said eagerly.

"Will you come with us?" Harry asked me. "You know more spells..."

"I'll come yeah," I said. "You shouldn't be going in the first place but I can't stop you, can I?"

Harry hugged me. "You're the best."

"He'll be murdered," I sighed as Harry rejoined Ron and two other first year boys by the fire.

"So which one of us are you taking with you?" Bixby asked eagerly.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Come on, one of us has to get to go with you!" Lee said.

"I'll pick Batavia to settle this kindly," I said.

"Batavia's hanging with Wood tonight, it seems," Fred said, nodding to the pair sitting in armchairs by the window.

"Crud," I said. "Well, who wants to go?"

Everyone raised their hands.

"Great," I said. "Well... I dunno what to do."

"We'll have our own wizard's duel to show Harry how it's done!" George said.

"How about we don't?" I said, wincing. "Erm... whoever beats me in wizard's chess can come with me."

"That's not fair you've never lost!" Lee said.

"Well then this will be interesting, won't it?" I asked with a grin.

Ten games and several curse words later, it was decided that Bixby came closest to beating me and was chosen to come along.

"Don't sulk," I told George as he fake sobbed on Fred's lap. "Next time you get to come."

At half past eleven, Bixby and I met Harry and Ron downstairs. With them were Hermione and another boy, who was named Neville Longbottom.

"Elizabeth, tell them not to go!" Hermione pleaded.

"You and I both know we can't stop them at this rate," I said.

"But what about Gryffindor?" She shrieked. "I don't want Slytherin to win the House Cup and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."

"Ah, points can be earned again," Bixby said, waving his hand in the air. "But experiences like this only happen once."

Hermione scowled, and reluctantly followed us all the way to the trophy room.

"This place is nice," Bixby said. "Look, there's my dad's trophy for Keeper... my grandfather's for Head Boy... my mum's for Best in Charms..."

"He's late!" Ron said in a loud whisper, making Bixby and I turn to face him. "Maybe he's chickened out."

"I dunno, this just seems wrong," I said.

There was a noise in the next room.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner..."

My blood ran cold.

"Filch!" I hissed.

"They're here somewhere," Filch said to his cat. "Probably hiding."

"Get going," I said to the first years. "Bixby and I will catch up, Invisible. I'll distract Filch."

I gripped Bixby's hand and concentrated, turning us both invisible. Harry and the others began to walk down the next gallery where there were several large suits of armor. I pulled Bixby forward to where Filch was coming, and was about to throw a stone from the floor across the room to knock down a vase in the room he'd come from, before I heard a loud crash and turned wildly to see Neville had knocked down a suit of armor.

"RUN!" Harry yelled, urging the others forward as he sprinted back. I barely managed to pull Bixby out of the way before Filch came running past us, Mrs Norris the cat at his feet trotting rather excitedly. I concentrated and made Bixby and I visible again.

"They're going to get caught!" He said. "What do we do?"

"We follow!" I said, running forward behind Filch at a good enough distance.

"They're heading down the corridor with all those weird statues- we can meet them at the end if we come this way!" I said, urging Bixby to follow me down a different corridor.

We ran until we ended up in another corridor, where we found the four first years breathing heavily.

"There you are!" I said. "Are you all okay?"

"Yes," Hermione gasped. "Oh I told you.. Malfoy must have tipped him off!"

"Nevermind that now," Bixby heaved. "We need to head back to the Common Room right now- damn it Beth I sort of wish you'd brought George or Fred instead. I don't like running..."

"Just suck it up right now," I said.

We hadn't made it too far down the corridor when Peeves came gliding out of a classroom.

"Hey Peeves," I said calmly.

"Beth," he said, nodding. He turned to the first years. "Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut tut tut, naught naughty, you'll get caughty."

"They're with Bixby and I," I said. "Nothing wrong."

"Hmm," Peeves said. "Well you and Bixby can go.. but I should tell Filch, I should, about these Ickle Firsties. It's for their own good, you know."

"Get out of the way!" Ron snapped, trying to push past Peeves. This was a mistake.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves roared. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

"Thanks, Ron!" I hissed. We sprinted all the way down the corridor until we reached a locked door.

"That's it!" Ron moaned. "We're done for! This is the end!"

"Move," I said, shoving him out of the way and taking out my wand. "Alohomora, Muffliato."

I shoved them inside the open door, and we remained silent to listen for Filch.

"Which way did they go, Peeves?" We heard him ask. "Quick, tell me."

"Say please," Peeves said, probably with that annoying smile he likes giving Filch.

"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?"

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," Peeves cooed.

"All right- please."

"NOTHING, HAHA!" Peeves cackled. "Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha! Ha! Hahaha! Haaaaaaa!"

I could hear Peeves had flown away, and meanwhile Filch had let out a string of curse words and stepped down another corridor.

"Beth," Bixby said, his voice cracking and his hand squeezing my arm.

I turned and almost screamed, seeing an enormous three headed dog was watching us with all six of its eyes, drool coming down its face.

"Holy shit," I squeaked.

Harry pushed the door open and we all sprinted out after him, not stopping for any rest until we reached the Gryffindor Common Room, where a very irritated Fat Lady let us inside.

"What are they playing at, keeping a dog like that in the school?" I wheezed. "It can hardly fit in that room and it probably needs exercise..."

"That's what you're worried about?" Bixby croaked. "It had three mouths and there were six of us there! They'd have had a nice meal, two children apiece..."

"Did you see what it was standing on?" Hermione asked.

"I was kind of paying attention to the teeth," Harry said.

"It was standing on a trapdoor!" Hermione said. "It must be guarding something."

Then she shook her head and scowled.

"I hope you're all pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed or worse, expelled. I'm going to bed."

I shrugged to Harry, Ron, and Neville, who also said goodnight and headed upstairs.

"So do we tell the twins and Lee about the dog?" Bixby asked.

"No, that'll be our secret," I sighed, finally catching my breath again. "If they found out then next thing we'd know, Hogwarts would have a new pet that played fetch with our broomsticks..."


	5. Chapter 5

"I bet that's a broom."

"I second that."

"I want to bet against it but I'd be losing five whole Sickles, wouldn't I?"

"Yeah don't bet against us, either of you. Bixby put those bloody Sickles away it's obviously a broom."

Bixby slowly slid his Sickles back into his pocket and shrugged sheepishly at Batavia.

"I always bet with Fred," he said. "It's a habit."

"There's no point here," I said, grinning from ear to ear. "Harry's got a broom in that parcel, no doubt."

Harry nodded and excitedly took the parcel outside with Ron, to be completely sure.

"Why don't they simply take our word for it?" George asked. "If that parcel doesn't have a broom inside it then I'll dye my hair pink and kiss Errol."

"Kiss Errol?" Batavia asked. "Your owl? But owls haven't got teeth-"

"Oh Tav," Bixby said, trying to contain his laughter. "He was just trying to be funny."

Batavia stared blankly back at us and shrugged.

"So how are things with you and Wood?" Fred asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"They're fine," Batavia said. "I'm supposed to tell one of the twins and Beth to go down to the pitch at seven o'clock today to help train Harry."

"I'll go," George piped up.

"I wanted to go," Fred whined.

They both looked expectantly at me.

"Don't look at me," I said, holding my hands up. "I'm not going to choose."

"Actually I opt out," Fred said. "Last time anyone went anywhere with Beth and Harry they ended up in the face of a three headed dog."

"Good times," Bixby said.

"You're a wuss, Freddie," George said. "If we come across a three headed dog I'll pet it."

"Like hell you will," Bixby said. "I love magical creatures and I did not even consider petting it. It's teeth were the size of my fist!"

"I wonder what it's name is," Batavia said thoughtfully. "I'd like to name it."

"Oh boy, that's not a good sign," Bixby said. "Batavia will be dragging us over to pet that dog soon and then we'll have to save her life like last year... remember when she wanted to pet the wolf she found at the edge of the forest and almost got her hand bitten off?"

"You scared him!" Batavia snapped. "It was all perfectly fine until you came along."

"Lucky we came when we did," Fred said. "You'd be missing a hand and in a few years after you've dated Wood for awhile, you'd be wishing you had two hands."

_________

Around half past six, George and I gathered our Quidditch gear and headed down to the pitch, where, to no one's surprise, we found Wood and Batavia snogging.

"A little quick, isn't it?" George asked as we walked past them without saying anything. "They've only just begun to talk."

"Worries me because typically Batavia isn't this... outgoing," I said. "She could make a big mistake in an attempt to not be shy anymore."

"Right you are," George said. "Do you reckon your brother is ready to have a Bludger thrown at him?"

"What?" I asked. "Of course not! You can show him what they look like but don't throw one at him."

"Ah, alright," George said with a grin.

Harry came down a bit later and he took a few laps in the air to show me he really could fly before Wood finally decided that he and Batavia needed to breathe and came to join us.

"Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play," Wood said. "Your sister's given you a rough explanation but I'm going to do it all again. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are called Chasers. Your sister is one of them this year."

Harry grinned to me. "Three Chasers, got it."

"We're in charge of the Quaffle," I piped up. "We throw it to each other and try to score a goal by chucking it into one of the hoops. Each goal scores us ten points."

"Sort of like basketball on broomsticks, then?" Harry asked.

"Yep," I said.

"What's basketball?" Wood asked.

"I'll explain that later," I assured him.

"Right," he said uncertainly. "Now there's another player on each side called the Keeper, which is what I play. I have to try and stop the other team from scoring."

"Three Chasers, one Keeper, and they play with the Quaffle," Harry said. "Got it. So what are the other three balls in that crate George is holding?"

"Ah, ickle Harry," George said, handing me a bat, "these are Bludgers." He motioned to two identical, jet black balls.

George took one out and it soared straight up into the air. As it came back down I hit it forcefully and sent it pelting across the field, where George flew to catch it on his broom and came back to tie it down inside the crate.

"You'd make a fair Beater, Beth," Wood said.

"Perhaps, but then George would be out of a job," I said, smirking.

"Anyway, Harry, the Bludgers rocket around trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why you have Beaters on each team. It's their job to protect their side from the Bludgers and try to knock them toward the other team," Wood said. "Got all that?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "Have the Bludgers ever killed anyone?"

"Never at Hogwarts," Wood said, which made Harry gulp. "We've had a couple of broken jaws but nothing worse than that."

Harry looked at me and winced, making me laugh and pat his shoulder.

"Now the last member of the team is the Seeker," Wood said. "That's you, Harry. You don't have to worry about the Quaffle or the Bludgers."

"Yeah, Fred and I will keep you safe from Bludgers, Harry," George said.

Wood reached into the crate and extracted the Golden Snitch and handed it to Harry.

"This is the Golden Snitch," he said. "It's the most important ball out of all of these here. It's very hard to catch due to its speed and it being so small. Your job is to catch it. You'll be needing to weave in and out of Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers, and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch can only end when the Snitch is caught, which means some can go on for ages..."

"I think the record is three months," I said.

"Three months?" Harry asked, his voice slightly high pitched. "But how-"

"They kept bringing in substitutes to let the players sleep," George said.

"Wow," Harry asked. "Well... I'll try really hard to catch the Snitch so that doesn't happen."

"That's the spirit!" Wood said. "Batavia, bring over the crate of golf balls."

"Golf balls?" Harry asked.

"We're not going to practice with the Snitch yet," Wood said. "It's too dark, we might lose it. We'll start with golf balls... they're somewhat the same size. George and Beth will help me throw them at you while you try and catch them."

"Okay," Harry said, which made George send me a malicious grin.

"We will NOT be throwing two golf balls at once, George," I said loudly, which made Wood chuckle a bit.

We practiced with Harry until it was too dark to continue. He didn't miss a single catch, which made Wood so happy he ended up snogging Batavia the instant we flew back down.

________

On Halloween, Batavia and I were just coming out of our History lesson when we came across Harry, Ron, and a couple other Gryffindor boys.

"What are you all talking about?" I asked, seeing them all intently listening to Ron.

"Hermione," Ron said angrily. "It's a wonder no one can stand her. She's a nightmare, honestly."

As if on cue, Hermione hurried past the group with tears in her eyes.

"I think she heard you," Harry said quietly.

"So?" Ron snapped. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"That was an awful thing to say," I said coldly. "Come on Batavia."

I gripped her hand and pulled her through the crowd in search of Hermione, who we found crying in a deserted corridor.

"Hermione," I said softly.

"I'm fine," she said quickly.

"No you're not," I said. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I'm not doing it on purpose!" She cried. "He doesn't understand how glad I am to be here, in a world of magic! It's not my fault I'm trying to help, it's not my fault I want to succeed! I'm an oddball here, I need to prove... I need to prove..." she swallowed hard and wiped tears from her eyes.

I sat down next to her and put my arm around her.

"He can understand that, believe it or not," I said. "He's always trying to live up to his brother's legacies. He's just silly, Hermione, boys are at this age. You keep doing your own thing, try to be excellent in your own way, who cares what they say?"

She wiped her tears again, nodding, and the bell rang.

"I don't want to go to class," she mumbled.

"I'll stay with you," I said. Batavia's eyes widened.

"But Beth you'll be missing Herbology!" She said.

"Then tell Sprout the truth, it won't hurt," I said. "I'm skiving off the class because a friend needs help."

Batavia nodded and ran down the way we'd come.

"Friend?" Hermione asked. "We're friends?"

"Of course we are, Hermione!" I said. "How about we go to the library? It's more comfortable there."

"Yes," she said. "And Beth... could you try and explain more about the wizarding world to me? I want to be more familiar with it..."

"Alright," I said. "Ask any question and I'll try my best to give you an answer."

By dinner, Hermione was feeling slightly better and was definitely more knowledgeable about the wizarding world. However, she still insisted she didn't want to see Ron, so we went to the bathroom near the Great Hall to hang out.

"You'll need to see him sometime," I said.

"Just not today," she grumbled. "But when I see him I-I'm going to snap at him for what he said!"

"You do that," I agreed. "Let him know he can't talk about you like that."

There was a low growl, and Hermione and I suddenly looked up. A troll was by the doorway, slowly coming our way. It hadn't seen us yet.

"Stay calm, stay calm," I whispered frantically. "Don't make a sound, move that way... when he passes we'll run out-"

But Hermione let out a loud, petrified scream as the troll looked up, and now it knew we were there.

I scrambled up with Hermione clutching onto my arm, and we ran to the end of the bathroom. The troll began to come toward us, knocking down the sinks with its club.

Then suddenly, I saw Harry, Ron, and George were behind the troll.

"Confuse it!" George called to Harry. George grabbed one of the fallen sinks and waving his wand sent it straight at the back of the trolls head.

The troll turned and growled, now advancing to George.

"Move, move, MOVE!" He yelled back at us. I tried to drag Hermione away from the wall but she was so stiff against it, her mouth open in terror, that she wouldn't budge.

The troll then got confused, hearing all the yelling, and began to advance to Ron, who was throwing broken pieces of the wall at the troll. He was trapped.

I let go of Hermione and turned into an eagle, soaring up and pecking the troll hard in the eyes to stop it from hurting Ron, who was now running between the trolls legs to escape.

The troll swung at me, and I dodged it, screeching and flapping my wings in his face to confuse him.

Then I zoomed down again, landing on the floor as a human.

The troll roared and swung it's club again, almost hitting George, except I summoned his club into my hand, barely moving out of the way before it fell.

I rolled out of the way just as the troll lunged forward for his club. I sprinted to Hermione's side, attempting to get her moving, except she still would not budge.

Harry then leapt onto the troll's back, fastening his arm around his neck, and sticking his wand up his nose.

"HARRY, GET DOWN FROM THERE!" I screamed as I forcefully pulled Hermione off the wall and sprinted behind the troll, who was now howling in pain and swinging his club all over.

Then the club went airborne, and I threw Hermione out of the way and it fell onto my leg, making me scream loudly. Just before I hit the floor, George caught me and dragged me out of the way.

"No- Harry!" I wailed, trying to get him to let go of me.

"They've handled it! Look!" George said.

I turned wildly to see the club was in the air and had just whacked the troll on the back of the head, sending him toppling over the stalls and crashing onto the floor, unconscious.

I pushed myself out of George's arms and limped to Harry, touching his face with my hands.

"Are you hurt?" I cried. "Oh Harry, why did you jump-?"

"I'm fine," he said, putting his arm around me to hold me up. Ron came over, bringing Harry's wand, which was now covered in troll boogers.

"That is disgusting," George said, also putting his arm around me, which made me gasp in pain as my leg brushed against the floor.

Then the door burst open and Snape, McGonagall, and Quirrel burst in.

McGonagall moved her mouth, but no sound came out. Her lips were white, and she looked so furious I had no idea what to expect when she finally spoke.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" She asked, her voice filled with disappointment. "You're lucky you weren't killed... why aren't you in your dormitory?"

I gulped.

"They were all looking for me, Professor," Hermione said in a small voice. We all turned to stare at her in disbelief.

"I went looking for the troll because I thought I could deal with it on my own, you know, because I've read all about them," she said. "If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."

I looked sheepishly at George, then at Harry and Ron. I didn't understand why Hermione hadn't just told the truth, I mean, what was so bad about her and I being in the bathroom and just being unaware that a troll had been set loose in the school?

"Well in that case," McGonagall said, her nostrils flaring. "Miss Granger you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own? Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this. I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."

Hermione walked out, and McGonagall turned to us.

"Miss Potter, I know that story is not true," McGonagall said. "Would you mind telling me what really happened?"

"Hermione and I were just... in the bathroom," I said. "Didn't know a troll was loose in the school. I suppose George, Harry, and Ron, came to warn us."

McGonagall nodded. "That is much more believable. Boys, you each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may all go- Mr. Weasley, take Miss Potter to the Hospital Wing, please."

We all exited the bathroom, and Harry and Ron looked nervously at me.

"You three are insane, you know that, right?" I asked.

"I get that a lot," George said with a grin.

"What even-?"

"We knew you two didn't know," Harry said. "We couldn't just leave you there..."

"Thank you, at any rate," I said. "Go enjoy the feast... Harry... Ron..."

They nodded and headed down a different corridor than George and I.

"Are you alright?" He asked. "That looks like a nasty break."

"I'll be fine," I said. "Bloody Merlin, if Hermione had just been quiet like I told her to we'd have been out of there unharmed..."

George chuckled. "First years, am I right?"

"Yeah," I said. "How did you even know we were in the bathroom?"

"Batavia," George said. "Told me you were hanging out there with Hermione."

"I'll be needing to thank her too," I said. "Thank you for coming, by the way... you didn't have to."

"You think I'd just let your brother and mine go fight a troll themselves?" George asked. "Besides, I needed to make sure you were okay."

"How sweet of you," I said.

"Can't have our mastermind and star Chaser killed, now can we?" George asked, making me grin and shake my head.

________

"You've got to eat something."

"I don't want anything."

"Toast, Harry, come on..."

"I'm not hungry."

"Do you know his favorite food, Beth? Maybe you could summon it..."

"Bixby, last I saw him his favorite food was breast milk."

Harry gave a little laugh and just shook his head.

"I'm too nervous to eat," Harry mumbled.

"Harry, you need your strength," another first year Gryffindor told him. "Seekers are always the ones who get clobbered by the other team."

"Thanks Seamus," Harry mumbled.

By eleven o'clock the stands were full with what seemed to be the entire school. In an attempt to not give Harry any more anxiety, I didn't tell him this as I walked back to the changing room.

"Okay men," Wood said.

"And women," Angelina Johnson added.

"And women," Wood agreed. "This is it."

"The big one," Fred said.

"The one we've all been waiting for," George said.

"Shut up," Wood said. "We're going to win, I know it."

Then he glared at us.

"Woah Wood," I said. "Calm down, we're going to win..."

"Right," he said, offering us all a grim smile. "Good luck, all of you."

We stepped out into the bright sun, and I covered my eyes with my hand.

I was not nervous. I'd trained for this moment since I could walk. My dad had taught me to ride a broom since I was one, and my godfather had done his very best to give me the chance to train despite not knowing how to play Quidditch. I knew what I was here for, I knew what I had to do, I knew how to do it. The problem was Harry, who looked faint.

"It's going to be fine," I whispered as Madam Hooch ordered us to mount our brooms.

Harry gave me a small nod, and I grinned, turning back to face front as Marcus Flint of Slytherin threw us a nasty glance.

The whistle was blown, and I shot up into the air with the other fourteen people on the field.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor," Lee said. "What an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too-"

"JORDAN!" McGonagall snapped.

"Sorry Professor," he said sheepishly.

"And she's really belting along up there, neat pass to Katie Bell, pass to Elizabeth Potter, back to Johnson- no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gaijs the Quaffle and off he goes... Flint flying like an eagle up there, although I've seen Beth do better as a REAL eagle-"

"JORDAN!"

"Just a compliment, Professor. Excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Oliver Wood. The Gryffindors take the Quaffle, that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice pass to Beth Potter, nice dice around Flint, off up the field, and- OUCH- that must have hurt..."

I winced loudly as I felt my shoulder pulsate after Slytherin's Beater aimed a Bludger right at me. He cackled madly, swinging his bat again to hit another Bludger that I narrowly avoided.

"-Quaffle taken by the Slytherins, that's Adrian Pucey speeding off towards the goal posts- he's blocked by a Bludger sent his way by either Fred or George Weasley, I can't tell which- nice play by the Gryffindor Beater anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, passed to Potter, passed to Bell, Bell has a clear field ahead and off she goes, she's really flying, dodges a speeding Bludger, the goal posts are ahead, come on now, Katie- Keeper Bletchley dives, misses, GRYFFINDORS SCORE!"

I cheered loudly with the rest of Gryffindor, high fiving Katie as she passed me.

"-Pucey in possession of the Quaffle now, speeding down the pitch, ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, Chaser Bell, and he is BLOCKED by Johnson, drops the Quaffle, Quaffle caught by Potter, Potter now speeding down the pitch, her path is clear, dodges Flint and a Bludger, wait a moment was that the Snitch?"

I didn't have time to turn to try and find it, because in that moment the distraction was what I needed for a clear shot.

"GRYFFINDOR SCORE!" Lee roared into the microphone. "Excellent goal by Beth Potter, twenty nil Gryffindor!"

As Bletchley passed Pucey the Quaffle I turned wildly to see Harry was racing Slytherin's Seeker Terence Higgs for the Snitch. Then suddenly, Marcus Flint dove right in front of Harry, and Harry's broom spun off course, nearly knocking my poor brother off.

"THAT'S A FOUL!" I screamed.

Madam Hooch flew over and reprimanded Flint, then granting us a free shot that Angelina took, landing us thirty points ahead of Slytherin.

"So after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating-"

"Jordan!"

"Alright, fine, I mean after that open and revolting foul-"

"Jordan, I'm warning you-"

"All right, all right! Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Johnson, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

I caught the Quaffle as Katie threw it and dodged Flint, who seemed just as intent to knock me off my broom. I swerved past Pucey and spun down below the game then up again to avoid the Bludgers slamming into bodies on the pitch.

I was just about to throw and probably score when out of nowhere another Bludger slammed into the side of my head and made me drop the Quaffle into Flint's waiting arms.

"Slytherin in possession- Flint with the Quaffle- passes Johnson- passes Bell... hit hard in the face with a Bludger, hope that broke his nose... only joking Professor! Slytherin score. Oh no..."

I whipped around wildly to see Harry was dangling from his broom, holding onto it with only one hand, looking absolutely terrified.

"GEORGE, FRED!" I screamed. "COVER ME!"

They immediately came forward to stop the Bludgers from coming anywhere near me as I opened my arms and summoned Harry straight to me, catching him and sitting him next to me on the broom as Dumbledore stood up and waved his wand to stop the broom in midair.

"Are you okay?" I gasped, slowly letting go of Harry.

"Yeah I'm fine," he said. "That was so weird... the broom... being summoned..."

"Yeah I don't think that I'm supposed to do that with humans," I said. "But oh Harry, you're okay..."

There was a loud yelp and I turned to the stands to see Snape jumping up, flames around his feet.

A time out was called for Harry to get back on his broom, and within minutes he'd dove forward and fallen onto the ground.

"Are you kidding me?" I cried to Katie. "I just saved him from death and he's gone to plummet into the ground-?"

"He's got the Snitch!" Lee roared into the microphone, which made Batavia cheer loudly from the stands and sprint down to where Harry was.

"Harry you're supposed to catch it in your hand!" I said with a laugh as I helped him back up.

Then suddenly someone lifted me off the ground and spun me around. When they put me down, I saw George Weasley.

"Great game," he said, a wide grin on his face. "You did-"

His face was so close to mine it made us both turn pink.

I slowly pushed myself out of his arms and laughed a bit, wiping some sweat off my forehead.

George cleared his throat. "You did really good."

"Thanks," I said. "You did too. Thanks for protecting Harry, and me."

"Don't mention it," he said. "Let's get you to the Hospital Wing, your shoulder looks dislocated and your head is bleeding a bit."

"I'll be fine," I said, despite the fact I agreed and began walking to the castle with George, a considerably large gap between us.


	6. Chapter 6

"Say it again, but slowly."

"Snape. Cursed. Harry."

"I just- I can't GRASP that concept in my head, Ron," I spluttered. "That's not possible, he wouldn't DARE do that out there with Dumbledore watching- this can't be true."

"We think it is," Harry said. "Snape hates me."

"It's one thing to hate you but to try and kill you? That's absurd!" I said.

"Fine, don't believe us," Ron said.

"You don't have enough evidence!" I shrieked. "Come fight me about it when you can prove I'm wrong."

I shook my head at the boys, who were now making faces, and turned to leave.

"Hey, what's wrong?" George asked as I turned down another corridor.

"Our brothers reckon Snape tried to kill Harry that day at the match!" I said. "I don't know WHERE they got that from but it- it's so unbelievable I can't even begin to understand why they think that."

"They need someone to blame, Beth," George said. "To them, Snape seems like the most likely to have done it."

"At any rate, someone in this school is out to hurt my brother," I hissed. "And I'm going to find out who, even if it means I have to read the mind of every damn person here."

I looked right at George, and he covered his eyes.

"Don't read my mind," he said.

"I'm not planning to," I said. "I've never read your mind."

"You haven't?" George asked. "Not even when we met? You always read people's minds when you meet them."

"Well I only met Bixby and Batavia last year so of course I read theirs," I said. "But I was three when I met you. I still didn't know I could read minds."

"Huh," George said. "How about this, we'll see how many years you can go without reading my mind. We're at what, ten now?"

"Yeah.. Okay," I said. "Sounds interesting enough."

Despite the fact that Harry and I's relationship grew slightly strained after he and Ron failed to prove Snape was really responsible, Christmas continued to approach, which meant that Bixby and Batavia were going to transition back into their annoying phase.

The thing about the twins is that they take Christmas WAY too seriously. Of course a certain amount of excitement is necessary, but there is a LIMIT to that.

Bixby and Batavia will prance around in Father Christmas hats and fuzzy socks and tinsel scarves and bells fastened to their shoes ALL of December. And sometimes even into January, according to their parents.

"I just love Christmas," Batavia sighed as she left the Common Room to go out into the grounds with Wood.

"I'm not liking her dating Wood anymore," Bixby grumbled. "He's always groping her everywhere... she's twelve."

"We're all twelve," I said.

"Well we're almost fourteen," Fred said.

"Then technically I'm almost thirteen," I said. "Whatever."

"She was going to want to grow up eventually," Lee said. "You couldn't keep her away from boys forever. Beth is the oddball here- "

"What's that supposed to mean?" I inquired.

"Well... you know.. other girls...."

"Just because at the age of twelve other girls are giggling and staring and drooling over boys doesn't mean I'm going to," I said firmly.

"Yeah, the boy she fancies doesn't even go to this school," Bixby said.

"Shut up!" I hissed. But the damage was done.

"Whaaat?" Katie Bell asked, leaning over the couch to look at me. "He doesn't go here? Ooh, does he go to Durmstrang?"

"No!" I said. "He just- he just-"

I looked back at five pairs of expectant eyes and sighed.

"He's a Muggle," I said. "Named Wyatt."

"What does he look like?" Katie asked with a giggle.

"Light brown hair, brown eyes," I said.

"What's he like?" Lee asked.

"You don't need to know," I said with a cheeky grin, sending a glare at Bixby.

The gang insisted they wanted to celebrate my birthday on the day that it came, but I profusely protested against it. Instead, I spent a quiet day with everyone in the Great Hall eating wonderful food and enjoying quality performances from each set of twins in the Common Room to commemorate me becoming a teenager.

After this I decided that I would like to help Hagrid put decorations up, which was a way to distract everyone from the fact that it was my birthday and have them instead lend a helping hand.

"Lif' tha' a little bi' more, Beth," Hagrid said as I strained to hang some holly on another pillar in the corridor.

"Twins-"

"Which?" Fred, George, Batavia, and Bixby all said at once.

"The redheads," Hagrid said. "Yeh both can help Beth put the holly on the other archways."

"Right on, Hagrid," George said, climbing onto the pillar next to mine to hang the holly on a small hook.

"We should make our hair red," Bixby said thoughtfully to Batavia as he handed me more holly. "Then they can't address the others as 'redheads'."

"But I don't think I'd look good as a redhead," Batavia said.

"You don't look good now as a blonde so I doubt it matters-"

I laughed and gripped onto the pillar for dear life as Batavia smacked Bixby, almost knocking me down.

"Beth!"

I turned to see Hermione, Harry, and Ron approaching us.

"Are you sure you don't want to keep celebrating?" Harry asked. "This is your first birthday with your brother and you haven't celebrated it..."

"I don't want to celebrate it," I said. "I'd rather help around the castle like a sensible person."

"Oh alright," Harry said. "Hi Hagrid!"

"'Lo," Hagrid said. "Excited for holiday?"

"Yep," Hermione said. "Oh! That reminds me. Harry, Ron, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library!"

"Library?" Fred asked quizzically. "What for?

"Bit keen, aren't yeh?" Hagrid asked.

"Oh, we're not working," Harry said. "Ever since you mentioned Nicholas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is."

"Nicholas Flamel?" I asked in shock, which made me actually fall off the pillar and land very hard on my bottom. "You lot don't know who he is?"

"I don't even know who he is," George said.

"Me neither," Bixby said. "Who is this bloke?"

"A really famous Alchemist!" I said. "Oh come on, don't tell me you don't know?"

"We didn't," Hermione said. "But thanks, Beth! Now we know where to look in terms of books."

Then she, Harry, and Ron, skipped off without another word.

"Wonder what they're investigating him for," Batavia said as she helped me onto my feet.

"Dunno," Fred said. "Maybe one of the teachers gave them an assignment..."

________

On Christmas morning, I sprinted upstairs to Harry's dormitory only to find George waiting outside.

"Merry Christmas!" I said. "George- what are you doing out here?"

"I suspected you'd be coming," he said. "How about we both wake up the ickle firsties?"

"Sure!" I said. George opened the door and I ran to Harry's bed, shaking him awake.

"Wha- Beth?" He asked, putting his glasses on and nearly poking his eye out.

"Good morning!" I said. "Merry Christmas!"

"Mmm Merry Christmas to you too," he said, rolling out of bed. He looked at the end of his bed and his eyes widened.

"What?" I asked.

"I've got presents!" He asked in complete awe.

"What did you expect, turnips?" Ron asked.

"Those awful people never gave you anything, did they?" I asked. Harry shook his head and I made a face.

I went over to Harry's pile of presents and started tossing them to him so he could open them.

"Here at Hogwarts," I said. "You have friends. You have family. We care. From now on you will never be without presents, I can promise you that. I bet those Muggles never gave you all the presents I sent."

"No they didn't," Harry mumbled. "Wow... thanks Beth."

I smiled as Harry contemplated a picture I'd given him of our parents holding him and I around the Christmas tree.

"You were only a few months old there," I said.

Harry threw his arms around me and hugged me tight, letting a small sob escape his mouth.

"Oh Harry," I said, rubbing his back. "It's okay, I'm here...."

George looked at me and grimaced slightly as I gave him a sad look.

Harry then reached for another parcel, which was rather large and floppy.

"I wonder what this is," he mumbled as he ripped it open. A silvery gray, fluid, cloth poured out of it and landed on the floor in gleaming folds. George, Ron, and I gasped loudly.

"No way!" I shrieked.

"If that's what I think it is... they're really rare and really valuable!" Ron said.

"What is it?!" Harry asked.

"I'm sure that's an Invisibility Cloak, mate!" George said. "Try it on!"

Harry threw the Cloak over his shoulders and we all gaped at him.

"It is!" I cried. "Look down!"

Harry looked and saw his body had disappeared.

"His head is just floating!" George said, rolling on the floor and laughing. "You should try that, Beth-"

"There's a note!" Ron said. "A note fell out of it!"

Harry threw off the cloak and seized the letter, reading it aloud. "'Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A very Merry Christmas to you.' No signature on it!"

"That was dad's?" I asked softly, a heavy weight in my chest setting in.

"Seems so," Harry said. "But who-?"

"I have a vague memory of that," I said. "Someone... dad gave that to someone for a bit, to borrow..."

Fred then burst in with three packages in his hand.

"Merry Christmas!" Fred said. "George here's yours... Mum sent these for you and Harry, Beth."

He tossed two packages to me. I handed the one with Harry's name on it to him, and tore open mine.

"I love it!" I said, holding up a light purple sweater with the letter 'E' on it.

"What-?" Harry asked.

"Mum made you a Weasley sweater!" George said. "Ah, yours hasn't got a letter on it, Harry. I suppose Mum thinks Fred and I will forget our names or something. But we know we're called Gred and Forge. Beth must have a letter on hers to fit in with ours."

"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" Fred asked. "Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm..."

"I hate maroon," Ron groaned as he pulled the sweater over his head.

"What is all this noise?" Percy asked from the door, coming in with his Weasley sweater tucked under his arm.

The twins jumped up and seized the sweater, forcing it over his head.

"P is for prefect!" Fred said. "Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Harry got one."

"I don't want-" Percy protested as his glasses were knocked off his face.

"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either," George said. "Christmas is a time for family."

After a glorious breakfast we all went outside for a snowball fight, which ended up in Batavia and Wood snogging again and Bixby growing so irritated he charmed a snowball to knock them both down.

Then Fred proposed a wizard's chess tournament, which resulted in a heated argument between Batavia and Bixby and a final game between Ron and I where I lost, which is something the twins will probably never let me forget.

"How on earth do you lose to Ronniekins?" George asked as we lounged around the Common Room after dinner.

"He's a better chess player," I said. "I overthink, and he's calm about it- more logical. Oh come on Fred, I'm not ashamed or anything. I, unlike you, can admit to losing without being bitter."

"I'm not bitter," Fred said.

"Well I dunno, but flipping a table after my queen punched that little pawn you saved until the end counts as being bitter-"

"Shut it."

We all burst out laughing. Shortly after, Batavia and Bixby went upstairs to sleep. I curled up on the couch as the twins got comfortable in armchairs. We were all too tired to go to our own beds. My eyes closed and I entered the world of dreams.

_I looked fearfully at my mother as she kneeled before me, gripping my shoulders so tight I became more afraid._

_"Elizabeth, listen to mommy," she whispered frantically. "You need to hide-"_

_There was a loud boom and the door flew open, a man stepping through the furniture._

_He was pale, and had no hair. His eyes were red and full of anger. I gasped loudly, staring at him with wide eyes. He looked at me and a cruel smile grew to be etched upon his lips._

_"Not my children, please," my mother begged, stepping in front of me and moving so her body shielded both Harry and I._

_"Stand aside, girl," the man's deep voice said. His eyes traveled to look at me, as though I was of no importance._

_"Not Elizabeth and Harry, please..." my mother said, staring at the man fearfully. He looked as though he was irritated._

_"Move aside!" The man snarled, pointing his wand at her._

_"Take me instead!" My mother cried, "kill me, not them..."_

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

_There was a flashing green light, a terrible scream, and then my mother dropped to the floor. I wailed and ran to her, touching her face wildly as Harry began to cry, gripping onto the bars of the crib._

_"Mommy no more games," I said, tapping my mother's cheeks in desperate hopes that she would come back._

_The man advanced and pointed his wand at Harry, just as I turned to look at my little brother._

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

_There was another scream- worse than the first. Harry cried louder. The man was gone, and Harry was bleeding.The entire top floor of the house had been blown up, and the wall was burning slightly._

_I whimpered and hugged Harry through the bars, desperately trying to stop him from crying._

_Then there was a noise. I turned and saw the man was back, and his wand was pointed at me._

_"It was a mistake to let you go the first time, Elizabeth Potter!" He growled, fire in his red eyes. "Avada Kedavra!"_

I screamed as I woke up, which left me gasping for air as cold sweat dripped down my face.

"Beth?" George asked, coming over and holding my hand tightly.

"N-nightmare," I stammered. "I-It's nothing."

I gulped and shivered.

"You're not okay," George said. "How about we go walk around the school?"

"Y-yeah," I said. "S-sure."

George held my hand firmly and helped me onto my feet, leading me slowly toward the portrait hole. I concentrated, making us both invisible.

We walked around the school aimlessly, neither of us knowing where we wanted to go. I couldn't see George, and I was lucky he couldn't see me, because tears were plastered onto my cheeks and my eyes were probably redder than Voldemort's had been in the dream...

I shook the feeling off, seeing a classroom door left ajar.

"How about we check it out?" George asked softly beside me, which I nodded to, despite the fact he wouldn't know if I did.

I gently pushed the door open, and as soon as I pulled George inside turned us visible and closed the door as carefully as I could.

On the opposite end of the room there was a large mirror.

It was as tall as the ceiling, as as wide as six people standing side by side. It was lined with gold across it's frame. On the top was carved an inscription that read "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi."

"What does that say?" George asked. "That isn't any language I recognize."

"Hold on," I said. "Erised. That- that's desire backwards. Perhaps the rest of it..."

I observed it for a moment and then grinned slightly.

"It's all just a sentence backwards," I said. "With the spaces rearranged. I think it says 'I show not your face but your heart's desire.' Yes... I think that's it."

"Huh," George said. "That does make sense. Let's have a look..."

He let go of my hand, making me suck air in. I felt safer with his hand holding mine. I was still trembling.

George looked into the mirror, almost as if he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be looking at.

"I think it does show our heart's desire's," George murmured.

"What do you see?" I asked.

George smiled slightly. "Fred and I outside a joke shop... I think that we own it. There are really happy people there... I dunno them, but they're happy. My whole family is there too, even Bill and Charlie! And wow, look at that...."

He went silent.

"What?" I asked.

"Just looking," he said, a little quickly. "Come on, your turn."

He stepped back and I stepped forward, glancing at him suspiciously from the corner of my eye. I was so tempted to read his mind but he was my best friend.. I couldn't bring myself to do that.

I looked straight into the mirror and breathed deeply.

Instantly, people began to appear. People of all types. Many of them with green eyes and dark hair like Harry's, some of them holding onto each other and others to what looked like very heavy stacks of textbooks. I saw one man, who turned into a bear then back, waving at me. In front of the multitude were familiar faces.

"Mum... Dad...." I croaked, touching the mirror softly with my hand.

My mother waved at me, then blew a kiss. Her arm was wrapped around my father, who was grinning the way Harry did when he was happy. Between them was Harry, looking a little older than he was now, holding a broom and a book under his arm.

The entire Potter family in the mirror, some smiling, some dancing, some singing, but all there, all looking at me happily.

"Wow," I sighed, feeling tears stream down my face again. My heart's deepest desire was a family.

Then out of the side of the mirror more people began to stream in. It was the Weasleys, all smiling and waving at the Potters, who made space for them in the mirror's field of view. George's figure in the mirror came forward to stand next to my parents, holding his hand out as if he wanted me to join them. I pressed my palm against his in the mirror, stifling a sob.

"Beth?" George whispered from behind me. My lips trembling, I turned to him.

"My family," I whispered. "My family- they're all there."

George smiled and came closer, sitting next to me, gazing into the mirror as well.

Then the whole Potter and Weasley clan disappeared, leaving the mirror to only reflect back the images of George and I.

I blinked tears away and leaned on George's shoulder, sighing loudly.

"I need to bring Harry here," I said. "He needs to see this. Thank you for coming with me."

"Anytime," George said softly. "Want to go?"

"Yeah," I whispered, getting up slowly and gripping George's hand again to turn us both invisible. He moved his hand so that his fingers laced with mine, and I was glad that he could not see my cheeks turn pink.

The following night I came again, but this time with Harry and his Invisibility Cloak.

"Come on," I urged. "You'll get to see Mum and Dad..."

I pulled him right in front of the mirror with me and sat him down beside me. I gazed straight into the mirror and smiled as the Potters all began to emerge again. This time, my parents came closer and held their hands out to Harry and I.

"I wish I could remember them," Harry said. "Mum and Dad.... you can remember them."

"Small memories," I said. I let out a small laugh. "I can remember once, Dad let you ride on a toy broom and you flew all around the living room and almost killed the cat."

"Cat?" Harry asked. "We had a cat?"

"Yeah," I said. "Ugly thing it was, but very adorable. A little ginger. Named Addy."

"What about the rest of them?" Harry asked. "All those people- did you ever meet them?"

"Not in person," I said. "But Mum and Dad had pictures. See that man who turned into a bear? That's our grandfather Fleamont. Dad's dad. He's the one I inherited the powers from. The thin woman there with short black hair? Great Aunt Eleanor... Dad said she invented something really cool. And over there is great grandfather James, whom Dad was named after."

"We could have had such a big family," Harry said.

"Yes," I said quietly. "Yes... we could've."

The night after that I returned to the mirror alone, and sat in front of it, smiling, the entire time. The figures couldn't speak to me, but they could do funny things... one of the cousins there did a somersault into Mum's arms, and Dad did the thing he used to do with his wand, letting smoke rings into the air.

"Enjoying it?"

I whipped around to see Dumbledore was standing by the door.

"It's beautiful," I said.

Dumbledore came closer, observing the mirror as if he hoped to catch some sort of glimpse of what appeared when I looked into it.

"Why didn't he kill me?" I asked abruptly, making Dumbledore slowly look down at me.

"I cannot tell you that yet," Dumbledore said.

"But you do know," I said. I looked right into his eyes, but Dumbledore waved his hand in front of his face.

"No, Elizabeth," he said. "That knowledge isn't for you to have yet."

"You always keep secrets from me," I said. "You didn't tell me my parents were dead when I asked. Last year when I begged you to explain to me why I couldn't meet Harry, you said nothing. Now you won't tell me why I'm even still alive. I need to know."

"And in due time you will, Elizabeth," Dumbledore said. "Now is not yet the time. You're not prepared to know."

"Well I wasn't prepared to witness my mother being murdered but I did anyway," I said forcefully. "I already saw it happen, what's the harm in telling me why I had to see that?"

"You'll understand later, Elizabeth," Dumbledore said. "Now... The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow. I ask you not to come looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that."

"I won't dwell on dreams," I mumbled. "I just wanted to see what I could've had. Please... just explain to me why-?"

"Not yet," Dumbledore said gently. "Not yet..."

I sighed loudly, crossing my arms. "Why did you give Harry the Invisibility Cloak?"

"It belonged to your father."

"We have the same father. You could have given it to me."

"You can already turn invisible."

"So? That belonged to my dad, I had a right to have it," I said, a bit angrily.

"Your brother could use it," Dumbledore said. "He does not have your powers, and besides, he is quite the spitting image of your father-"

"That's the reason," I said. "No one thinks I'm going to be like my dad because I don't look like him. Well I want to be like him, not like my mum. I want to be rebellious and get into trouble and play Quidditch and get in detention.... I am half James Potter's child. I don't want to be just like Lily Evans. I am not a flower."


	7. Chapter 7

"Don't play."

"Say you're ill."

"Pretend to break your leg."

"REALLY break your leg."

"For the last time," I said, heaving loudly, "Snape is NOT trying to kill Harry."

"How do you explain Snape's sudden, sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee, then?" Harry demanded.

"He refereed a game last year," I said. "Cmon Harry, it's going to be fine."

Hermione and Ron looked at me and shook their heads.

"You're not helping!" I shrieked.

"Look mate," Bixby said, leaning over the table, "if Snape wanted to kill you, do you really think he'd do something stupid like cursing your broom in the middle of a Quidditch match while Dumbledore is watching? Let's see, Beth, if you had to kill someone, how would you do it?"

"What?" I asked. "I don't know. But not some obvious way."

"Exactly. The point is, the bloke's a bloody Potions genius," Bixby said. "He'd slip something into your pumpkin juice to make it look like you died of an allergic reaction."

"You've certainly thought this through," Batavia said.

"What can I say?" Bixby said with a grin. "I like figuring out mysteries like this. Bottom line, Harry, I agree with your sister. Snape can't have possibly been the one trying to kill you."

"But it doesn't make sense for anyone else to have been doing it!" Hermione said.

"It does, actually," I said. "You don't know who else has it in for Harry. Just because they're nice doesn't mean they truly want everything to turn out alright for him."

"Exactly," Bixby said. "Look at Quirrel. He stutters and acts like a victim but I bet he could kill you within two seconds. He's a Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, for Godric's sake!"

"Quirrel is suspicious," I said. "I still haven't been able to read his mind. This is a load of bull. Even if he is an Occlumens he can't possibly sense when I seep into his mind. No one can."

"At any rate," Fred piped up, "we haven't got a reserve Seeker. If you don't play, Harry, none of us can."

"Yeah," George said. "Don't be selfish. Besides, if there's any danger then Beth will just summon you to where it's safe. No biggie. Or she can turn into a dragon and eat whoever is trying to kill you."

"Dragons are too big," I said. "I'd die trying to do that transformation. But yes, Harry, you've GOT to play."

"Alright," Harry said. "But only because you asked and because the Slytherins will think I'm just too scared to face Snape if I don't step out there. I'll show them... it'll really wipe the smiles off their faces if we win."

"That's the spirit-" I began.

"-just as long as we're not wiping you off the field," Hermione said, which made me frown at her.

The game of course, went just fine and Harry even managed to catch the Snitch mere minutes into the game before either team had a chance to score.

Harry jumped off his broom onto the ground and grinned at me, holding up the Snitch for me to see.

"What did I tell you?" I said, laughing. "Great job!"

I flew down to where he was and ruffled his hair as the Gryffindors began to pour down the stands to lift Harry above their shoulders and cheer loudly.

"He's doing amazing," George said from behind me, resting his arm on my shoulder. "You were right. Seeker position needed to stay vacant."

"Yep," I said. "I doubt I'd ever be as good a Seeker as him."

George looked at me and smiled, then looked away.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said. "Nothing at all."

I rolled my eyes and pushed him gently away, rushing forward to join the rest of the team in the locker room.

"I am monumentally proud," Wood said to Harry, gripping his shoulders. "You've done something incredible. Thank you."

I grinned as Wood pulled Harry into a tight hug and Batavia sighed dramatically from the corner of the room.

"Reckon he's better than Charlie?" Fred asked me.

"Nah," I said. "Not yet. Charlie was spectacular, he was... something else."

Fred looked at me with a smirk on his face. "I've never heard you say a guy was 'something else.'"

"Your brother was very talented," I said. "I'm allowed to compliment talented people."

"I've always thought you'd become a Weasley," Fred said. "I'd be nice for you to marry one of my brothers."

"That's random," I said with a short laugh.

"Oh come on, Beth, it isn't really," Fred said. "You basically grew up with us. Ron had a crush on you for the longest time, and I know Percy likes you just a bit."

"Percy doesn't like me," I said.

"He may not act like it but he does," Fred said. "You should've heard him yell at George after he brought you back with a cast on your leg. You'd think George had thrown you off the top of the Astronomy Tower."

"Hmm," I said. "Well... I dunno. I suppose all your brothers consider me like another sister."

"Correction," Fred said. "Bill, Ginny, and I consider you as a sister. Charlie and Percy are just secretive. George and Ron..."

Then he suddenly stopped and shrugged.

"What about George?" I inquired, my curiosity being fed.

"He just hasn't given his opinion," Fred said. "And- woah don't try and read my mind, now!"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "Wasn't trying to," I said. "I wouldn't read your mind."

"You'd better not," Fred said. "Because then you'll tell Batavia what you saw and she'll tell Angelina and soon the whole school will know what goes on inside my head."

"That only makes me think you have murder plans in your brain," I said with a laugh. Harry came closer and tapped my shoulder.

"Yeah?" I said.

"Come with me," he said.

"Okay," I replied, waving to Fred and following Harry out of the locker room and to the broom shed.

"Necromancy," Harry blurted out.

"Excuse me?" I asked, taken aback.

"Necromancy," Harry said. "You said you still don't know how many powers you have. What if... what if you're a necromancer?"

"That's a bit of a scary thing to try and have as a power," I said. "That's dark magic."

"But think about it," Harry said. "You could let us talk to Mum and Dad."

"The mirror got to you, didn't it," I said grimly. "Oh Harry... but that's not natural, we shouldn't be able to do that..."

"You have to have some other power," Harry insisted. "Maybe... maybe you have Healing powers or you can predict the future or move things with your mind..."

"I don't know, Harry," I sighed. "I'm not sure I even want another power."

"Is it because you don't want people paying more attention to you?" Harry asked.

"Somewhat," I said. "I don't like this whole 'being famous' ordeal. People will just use me. Trust me Harry, it's no easy task having these powers. It's hard to control it sometimes. Mind reading... it's hard to stop yourself when you're just so curious. Shape shifting... it can happen when I'm really emotional. And that hurts me."

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "I don't.. I can't relate to that. I just... I want to see Mum and Dad again. And maybe if you had another power you could bring them back."

"I wish I could, Harry," I said. "But even if I could, it would be wrong of me to do that. The dead are not supposed to be brought back to life. It's unnatural, and it's wrong, and it can cause the world to become unstable."

Harry sighed. "Okay. Beth-"

Then he faltered, looking behind me. I turned and saw Snape was walking toward the forest, looking behind him as though he was not trying to be followed.

"Let's go investigate," Harry said, mounting his broom and soaring into the sky.

"Damn it!" I said, mounting mine and flying up to join him.

"Harry!" I hissed when I arrived by his side. "Don't do this."

Harry ignored me and flew through the trees. I scowled and landed on a tree, unable to fit in the gaps. I left my broom there and turned into a squirrel, jumping through the branches until I reached Harry's side. He was a little surprised to see a squirrel sitting next to him on a branch, but when I rolled my eyes he figured it was me. (George reckons I should turn into random animals and go roll my eyes at people then just leave because apparently it's 'funny.')

"...d-don't know w-why you wanted t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus," the unmistakable voice of Quirrel stammered from under the trees.

"Oh, I thought we'd keep this private," Snape snarled to him. "Students aren't supposed to know about the Sorcerer's Stone, after all."

Quirrel mumbled something in a low voice, and Snape interrupted him.

"Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"

"B-b-but Severus, I-"

"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrel," Snape said menacingly.

"I-I don't k-know what you-"

"You know perfectly well what I mean."

An owl hooted, and I squeaked and jumped into Harry's open hand and curled up as it flew overhead. Harry let out a small laugh that luckily went unnoticed by the two men below.

"-your little bit of hocus pocus. I'm waiting."

"B-b-but I d-d-don't-"

"Very well. We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decide where your loyalties lie."

Harry looked at me and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. I shrugged and pointed back the way we'd come. Harry nodded and flew us back, leaving me on the tree where I'd left my broom to change back into a human and fly down with him to leave our brooms in the broom shed.

As soon as we walked into the Great Hall, Ron and Hermione ambushed us.

"Where have you two been?" She asked frantically.

"Er-"

"We won! You won! We won!" Ron said excitedly, clapping us both on the back. "And I gave Malfoy a black eye and Neville tried to take Crabbe and Goyle single handed! He's still out cold but Madam Pomfrey reckons he'll be fine. Talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting for you in the Common Room, we're having a party. Fred and George even stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens."

"You go, Beth," Harry panted. "Ron, Hermione, I need to tell you what we heard..."

He led them away to an empty classroom and I shrugged, walking all the way back to the Common Room by myself.

As soon as I walked in I had several plates of food shoved in my face, which I courteously rejected to go sit with Bixby, who was sitting by himself looking miserable.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Batavia and Wood left to have a victory snog," he said bitterly. "I'm getting sick and tired of this, she's only twelve and he's fifteen and and...."

"Oh Bixby," I said. "I know, I think they moved fast too, but Oliver Wood is a good guy. He won't hurt her, the only thing he really cares about is her and Quidditch... I can tell."

"You think so?" He asked.

"I know so," I said. "She's growing up. You can't protect her forever."

"I want to though," he mumbled. "I don't want her to get hurt."

"Like I said before, she'll be fine," I said. "Maybe what you need is to get a girlfriend so you can see it's not all that bad," I said.

"A girlfriend," Bixby scoffed. "Yeah... right."

"I'm just trying to be helpful," I said a bit coldly.

"I know," Bixby said. "It's just... you know how as the older sibling you feel compelled to always be alert to make sure the younger one is safe?"

"Yep."

"I feel that way. Like I need to remain available, unfocused on a relationship. Because I need to concentrate on making sure Batavia's relationship with Wood is going well."

"You can't just babysit her," I said. "She can take care of herself."

Bixby sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"It's going to be fine," I said. "I promise."

Bixby smiled wearily and nodded, closing his eyes and resting his head back in his armchair.

"He's such an older brother," Fred said from behind me, appearing with a platter of biscuits.

"It's a bit much," I said as I took a biscuit. "I hope you're listening to this, Bixby. It's a bit much. There's a certain extent you can go to."

Bixby didn't show any signs of hearing me, so I shrugged it off and looked back at Fred.

"Where's your other half?" I asked.

"Dunno," Fred said. "Reckon he went back to the kitchen for more... we were running low on orange juice."

"Hmm," I said.

"You fancy him," Fred said.

"What? No," I said quickly. Bixby then conveniently woke up and grinned.

"You fancy George Weasley," he said.

"I fancy Wyatt-"

"You don't," Bixby said. "You don't. I see the way you look at George."

"That's absurd," I said. "It really is... you're crazy."

"Maybe," Bixby said, closing his eyes and curling up on the armchair again.

"It's fine if you do," Fred said. "Like I said, you're meant to become a Weasley."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, which made Fred walk away.

I didn't fancy George Weasley. Not THAT much anyway.

"I'd pay a million Galleons to be able to read your mind right now," Bixby mumbled, making me transform into a dog and leap onto his lap, which knocked the wind out of him.

________

"Beth, what would you do if your friend was doing something illegal and you knew you had to stop them?"

I grinned up at both sets of twins, who were smirking back at Harry.

"I'd probably be doing the illegal thing too," I said. "What's your point?"

"Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons in the library," Hermione said.

"Maybe he's just helping with treatment of one," I said. "The wild ones around Britain sometimes need help when they're sick."

"I hope that's all it is," Hermione said. "We're going to visit him though, want to come?"

"Sure," I said, looking at the two sets of twins who stared back at me.

"I want to come," Bixby said. I nodded and we both got up to follow the trio of first years to Hagrid's insanely hot cabin.

"Bloody hell, Hagrid," I gasped when he let us in. "Are you trying to make a sauna?"

"No," Hagrid said. "Yeh- yeh wanted to ask me somethin?"

"Yes," Harry said immediately. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid looked at all of us and frowned. "O' course I can't. Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. Tha' Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts. I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all. Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

"It's hard not to know when you run straight into it," I said.

"Run straigh' inter it?" Hagrid asked. "Wha' are yeh goin' on abou', Beth?"

"We came across it," Bixby said. "In passing."

"That's not important," Hermione said quickly. "Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know everything that goes on round here. We only wondered who had done the guarding, really. We wondered who Dumbledore trusted enough to help him apart from you."

The flattering seemed to work, because Hagrid's chest swelled and he beamed, his expression softening.

"Well I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that," Hagrid said. "Let's see... he borrowed Fluffy from me... then some o' the teachers did enchantments... Professors Sprout... Flitwick... McGonagall... Quirrel... an' Dumbledore himself did somethin' o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"See Harry?" I said. "Snape's on Dumbledore's side!"

"Nevermind that," Harry said, clearly not intent on agreeing with me. "You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you Hagrid? And you wouldn't tell anyone else, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," Hagrid confirmed.

"That's something," Harry mumbled.

"Hagrid," I said, "can we please open a window? It's boiling in here."

"Can't Beth, I'm sorry," Hagrid said, looking at the fire out of the corner of his eye. The instant he turned back to me I looked straight into his mind.

_I don' know what ter do with that little dragon. When it's born... I don't want ter have ter give it away..._

"Hagrid, when is it going to hatch?" I asked, making everyone turn to me.

"Hatch?" Hermione asked. "But what-?"

I motioned to the fireplace and her eyes widened.

"Dunno what yer talkin' 'bou, Beth," Hagrid said gruffly.

"Oh don't lie," I said. "That's a dragon egg there."

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" Bixby asked excitedly as he went to the fire and gazed at the egg, his eyes wide as saucers.

"He's got a thing for creatures," I said as Hagrid turned slightly pink.

"I won it," Hagrid said softly. "Las' nigh'. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

"Not many people would keep a beauty like this on them," Bixby said. "Bloody hell, people just can't appreciate this majestic creature...."

He sat by the fire and stared intently at the egg, making Hagrid and I both laugh.

"What ARE you going to do when it's hatched?" Hermione asked.

"Well I've bin doin' some readin'," Hagrid said. "Says here, 'keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. A see here- how ter recognize different eggs... what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."

"No kidding!" Bixby said. "Wow Hagrid, that's a catch."

"It is," Hagrid said proudly. "Beth.. do yeh think yeh could turn into a baby dragon when it's hatched?"

"Sure," I said. "Oh Merlin it's hot in here..."

"Well it needs the heat," Hagrid said.

"Hagrid you live in a wooden house," Hermione squeaked.

"It'll be fine," Bixby said reassuringly. "Can I be here when it's born?"

"I'll be sendin' an owl," Hagrid said, making Harry and Ron gaze at each other uncertainly.

Within the next few days, we'd received a letter at breakfast and were informed that the dragon was hatching.

"Ha!" I said. "Bixby and I can skive off History but you can't skive off Herbology!"

"Shut up," Ron mumbled. "It was Hermione's idea."

Bixby and I were just about to go down to Hagrid's hut to watch the dragon hatch when we came across Batavia and Wood snogging in the hallway.

"That is IT!" Bixby said.

"Bixby, no!" I cried, trying to hold him back. But by then, Bixby had already approached them.

"Oy, Batavia!" Bixby said, glaring at her and she and Wood jumped apart.

I looked at them sheepishly, hanging my head.

"What, Bixby?" Batavia demanded.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" He asked icily.

"Oliver's got a free period and we've got History- you and Beth aren't in class!"

Bixby scowled and seemed ready to argue something else except I extended my arm and summoned him beside me, which made Batavia look at me gratefully and lead Oliver away by the hand.

"I'm sick of it!" Bixby snarled. "sick of it, sick of it..."

"Let's go watch it hatch," I said, pulling him out the door. "Come on."

"Is it bad that I'm overreacting?" Bixby asked. "Like seriously?"

"No," I said. "It really isn't. It's your job as a brother. But seriously, leave her alone..."

He scowled as I dragged him into Hagrid's boiling hot cabin.

"'Lo, Beth, Bixby!" Hagrid said, wiping sweat off his forehead. "It's nearly out..."

The egg on the table had deep cracks in it, and within it something wiggled excitedly. It clicked and then suddenly kicked at the shell. The egg split open and the baby dragon flopped out. It was slimy, and it's black wings were spiny and twice the size of its body. It eyes were a brilliant orange, and it cooed when it saw Hagrid, sneezing suddenly to release a few sparks.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Hagrid asked, stroking it's head. The dragon snapped at his finger, baring tiny fangs.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" Hagrid said.

Bixby nodded to me, and I concentrated. My body shrank until I was roughly around the same size as the little dragon (only slightly larger).

It looked up at me and cooed again, coming to rub against me, which made me grit my fangs together since the slime would end up on my robes as well.

"That is adorable," Bixby said. "If only Lee and the twins could see this."

I glared angrily at Bixby and went right into his mind to say " _you will mention this to no one_."

After several failed attempts on Hagrid's part to attempt to get the dragon to sleep, Bixby had to intervene and suggest that I bite its neck softly. This of course made me look at him suspiciously and stare at him out of the corner of my eyes as I played vampire with the small (and very real) dragon.

Surprisingly, this actually helped it sleep. By the time Hermione, Harry, and Ron had arrived, the dragon and I were both asleep.

The only problem was, that while I'd been sleeping, Draco Malfoy had laid eyes on the dragon.

This of course meant we had to get the dragon out of Hogwarts as soon as possible, which was partly solved when Ron received a letter back from Charlie saying a couple of his friends could pick up the dragon and bring it to Romania at midnight on Saturday.

That day, Hermione and Harry headed up to the Astronomy Tower to deliver the dragon while Ron sat in the Hospital Wing due to burns and George, Bixby, and I waited in the Common Room for them.

We had only been waiting about fifteen minutes when Bixby fell asleep, leaving George and I to listen to his light snoring.

"Heard you turned into a dragon," he said.

"I'm going to bite Bixby," I said with a growl, glaring at the sleeping boy next to me.

"I bet you looked ugly," George said.

"You're always ugly," I said. "That's why I try to make you invisible as often as possible."

George put a hand to his chest and laughed lightly.

"Did I hit a nerve?" He asked.

"I don't have nerves I'm not human," I said with a cheeky grin, fiddling with my fingers.

"Your Muggle boy is going to flip out when he finds out all the shit you can do," George said with a laugh.

I shrugged and looked at the fire thoughtfully. "I dunno if I'll ever tell him. I don't really fancy him anymore."

"Really?" George asked, appearing very interested.

"Yeah," I said. "The constant mentioning of his existence got me thinking. I don't fancy him as much as I fancy someone else, apparently.

"Ah," George said. "Poor Muggle boy."

"He's not at any loss," I said. "He vaguely remembers me as the strange girl who never leaves her house. He thinks I've never been outside."

"Maybe you should be put under house arrest," George said. "Everytime you go outside you're bouncing off walls that aren't even there."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked quizzically.

"Just that you're really energetic," George said.

He went silent, looking straight at me.

"Do you want to know what else I saw in the mirror?" He asked.

"Duh," I said, looking intently at him, forcing myself not to read his mind.

George took a deep breath, and looked back at me. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Harry, Hermione, and Neville Longbottom burst in.

"What happened?" I cried.

"We got caught," Harry said angrily. "Each got fifty points taken away. I'm going to bed."

Without another word he stormed upstairs, followed by Neville, and a very distressed looking Hermione.

"Oh man," I mumbled. I shook my head and winced, turning back to George. "What were you going to say?"

"Nothing," George said, smiling at me. "Nothing at all."


	8. Chapter 8

Harry continued to have random pains in his scar throughout the following weeks leading up to exams, which worried me so much I was starting to get anxious all the time. This resulted in a random transformation into a kangaroo after my Transfiguration exam and being stuck as a porcupine for the weekend after a game of chess gone haywire thanks to Percy making me angry about my technique.

"How about you try for a hedgehog this time?" Lee suggested.

"I'm good thanks," I said wearily, rubbing my temples.

"Does your head hurt too?" Harry asked.

"Yes but only because of transforming," I said. "You, on the other hand, need to visit Madam Pomfrey."

"I'm fine, everything is fine," Harry said. "I just suppose it means danger is coming."

"Harry, relax," Ron said. "The Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try again in a hurry. Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid let's Dumbledore down."

I shrugged, and when I looked up, I caught George quickly looking away.

"Hey Beth," Batavia said suddenly. "I need to talk to you."

"Okay," I said, following her as she urged me into our dormitory.

"Spill," she demanded.

"Spill what?" I asked.

"Are you daft?" She asked. "Whatever is going on with you and George!"

"I didn't do or say anything," I said. "I just told him I don't really fancy Wyatt anymore and he was going to tell me something when my brother and his friends burst in. Now he hasn't been speaking to me."

"He must've been about to confess that he likes you!" Batavia shrieked.

"I highly doubt that," I said.

"You're more oblivious than my brother, sometimes, Beth," Batavia sighed as she walked back down tho the Common Room, making me roll my eyes and huff loudly before going to join her.

I found everyone downstairs as I'd left them except for Harry, who seemed deep in thought.

"What's up with you, Harry?" I asked.

"Don't you think it's a bit off that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up and just so happens to have an egg in his pocket?" He said. "How many people wander around with a dragon egg if it's against wizarding law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before? We've got to go and see Hagrid now."

"What exactly are you talking about?" Ron asked. But Harry didn't answer. Instead he jumped to his feet and ran out of the Common Room. Without hesitating, George jumped up and followed Ron, Hermione, and I out after him all the way to Hagrid's hut.

"Hullo," Hagrid said when we arrived. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"Yes please," Ron said.

"No, we're in a hurry," Harry cut in. "Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno," Hagrid said. "Wouldn' take his cloak off."

"That's downright fishy," George said.

"It's not tha' unusual, though," Hagrid replied. "Yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head. Tha's the pub down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

"What did you talk to him about?" I asked suddenly, an idea dawning on me. "Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

"Mighta come up," Hagrid said. "Yeah... he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here... he asked a but abou' the sorta creatures I took after... so I told 'im... an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon... an' then... I can't remember too well, 'cause he kep' buyin' me drinks... oh yeah he said we could play cards fer the dragon egg, but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home, so I told him after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy..."

"Did he seem interested in Fluffy?" I asked, looking at Harry, whose eyes narrowed, realizing what we were discovering.

"Well yeah, how many three headed dogs d'yeh meet?" Hagrid said. "So I told him Fluffy is a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm 'im down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straigh' off ter sleep..."

Hagrid then looked at us, wide eyed.

"I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" He gasped. "Forget I said it!"

But it was too late. Hermione looked at us all and bolted out the door, so naturally we followed her until she stopped when we were inside he castle.

"We've got to tell Dumbledore," Harry panted. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak."

"Snape!" I said. "Harry for the last time, Snape has nothing to do with this-"

But he wasn't listening. Instead, he was leading the others down the corridor in search of Dumbledore's office.

"What are you three doing?" McGonagall inquired from behind us.

"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said boldly.

"What? Why?" McGonagall asked.

"It's sort of a secret," Harry piped up, which was apparently the wrong thing to say.

"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," McGonagall said sharply. "Urgent owl from the Ministry."

"He's gone?" Harry asked. "But this is very important."

"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter?" McGonagall demanded.

"Look," Harry said. "Professor- it's about the Sorcerer's stone-"

"How do you know-?" She snapped.

"We think- we KNOW Snap- that someone is going to try and steal the stone," Harry said.

"Harry-" I began.

"Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow," McGonagall said, her nostrils flaring. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected."

"But Professor-"

"Potter, I know what I'm talking about," McGonagall said fiercely. "Go back outside and enjoy the sunshine, or to your Common Rooms and... play games or something."

She then strode away, leaving Harry to huff.

"Beth!" He snapped. "You're supposed to help me convince her!"

"I'm not supposed to do anything!" I said. "Snape isn't going to steal the Stone, Harry!"

"Well I'm going out to the third floor tonight and I'm going to try and get the Stone first, whether you want to help me or not!" Harry said.

"Think this through," I said carefully. "You'll be expelled."

"SO WHAT?" Harry snarled. "If Snape gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort will come back! Then there won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for Dark Arts! Losing points doesn't matter anymore, can't you see? Just because he let you live before Beth, doesn't mean he won't leave you and everyone else's families alone! If I get caught before I can get the Stone then I'll just have to to back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there, it's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going to the Dark Side! I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and you can try to stop me but you won't be able to! You're either with me or against me, Beth- that goes for all of you too! Voldemort killed our parents, remember? Sad that you don't care enough to do something about the man who tore our family apart."

I gaped at him in disbelief, and saw Hermione and Ron looked afraid of Harry.

"That was bang out of line, mate," George said, looking at me.

"Harry," I said slowly, "don't you ever DARE insinuate that I don't care. I SAW it, remember? I had to deal with that man LOOKING at me, and standing over our mum's dead body like it meant nothing, I had to deal with HOURS of waiting alone with you while you cried and cried because I didn't understand that our parents were dead! I CARE, HARRY. OF COURSE I CARE!"

I gasped for air and wiped furious tears off my face. George pulled me into his arms and hugged me, making me cough and sniff loudly and squeeze more tears out of my eyes.

"Beth," Harry said quietly. "Then you understand. And you'll come with me."

I pulled out of George's arms, looking at him, feeling my cheeks turn pink. Then I turned to Harry.

"Of course I'll come," I said, my voice cracking. "But this... this is so stupid. And you can't make them come with us."

"Are you kidding me?" George said. "I'm coming."

"So are we," Hermione said, motioning to herself and a nodding Ron.

Harry looked at us all and nodded. "Fine. Tonight. Meet in the Common Room."

________

"Petrificus Totalus! Sorry Neville...."

I gaped at Hermione as she tucked her wand back in her pocket.

"Bloody Merlin," I said. "Remind me never to try and stop you from doing something..."

The trio draped the Invisibility Cloak over themselves and I grabbed George's hand, leading him out of the portrait hole and to the third floor corridor.

We only came across Mrs Norris and Peeves once, which worked out well after I summoned the Bloody Baron out of thin air to tell Peeves, for the lack of a better word, fuck off.

When we got to the door where Fluffy was, we noticed it was ajar.

"Snape already got past Fluffy," Harry said quietly as he took the Invisibility Cloak off himself and his friends. I make George and I visible.

"For the millionth time, it's not Snape, but let's go," I hissed, pushing the door open to lead us inside.

"What's that at its feet?" Hermione hissed as the dogs' heads looked around for us in the darkness.

"A harp," I said. "Thank God it isn't a flute or anything, I can play a harp."

"You can what?" George asked.

"Nevermind that now," I said, opening the palm of my hand just as the harp materialized into it. I slowly began to play it, and the dog's eyes began to fall.

"Slowly make your way down to the trapdoor," I whispered. The first years listened to my instructions but George lingered by my side.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "Go protect them or something."

"They'll be fine," he said. "I'm staying with you."

"Okay," I said. Right after Hermione slipped into the trapdoor, the dog moved and suddenly his body was covering the door.

"Oh crud," I said. "How the bloody hell are we supposed to get down there now?"

"I have an idea," George said. "I'll play the harp and you summon the dog away from the trapdoor."

"Fine," I said, quickly handing him the harp and taking a deep breath. He began to strum the strings randomly, not making any melody, but it was enough to keep the dog asleep as I concentrated and caused the massive body to land beside me with a small thump, which didn't wake the dog, but weakened me.

I tripped forward and fell onto the ground on my knees, gasping and holding my head in my hands.

"Beth!" George said, crouching down next to me, still playing the harp every so slightly.

"I'm fine," I squeaked. "Just dizzy."

George handed me the harp and I strummed it. He then picked me up and half carried, half dragged me into the trapdoor, where we took a small fall and landed on something soft.

"Where are we?" George asked Ron, who was making faces and feeling the surface we sat on.

Then suddenly, it seemed like whatever we were on woke up. Hermione sprang out of the way as large snakelike tendrils began to wrap around Harry and Ron, who were struggling against it.

George pulled me out of the way as tendrils began to wrap around his legs too.

"George!" I cried, feeling a wave of dizziness hit me as I tried desperately to pull him out.

"Stop moving!" Hermione said suddenly. "I know what this is... it's the Devil's Snare!"

"Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help!" Ron said as he tried furiously to stop the tendrils from wrapping around his neck.

"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" Hermione shrieked.

I let the tendrils at my feet begin to wind themselves around my legs. George wrapped his arms firmly around me and pulled me close to him, looking at me and quickly looking away.

"What did Sprout say?" Hermione questioned herself desperately. A distant memory was stirred.

"Light a fire!" I cried, gasping as another wave of nausea hit that made me collapse into George's arms and rest my head weakly against his chest.

"Yes- of course- but there's no wood!" Hermione cried.

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT! MAKE FIRE, BECAUSE BETH CAN'T SUMMON ANY!"

I watched as Hermione waved her wand, making blue flames jet out of it. The plant immediately stopped trying to kill us and let us go free, dropping us on the floor below.

"Thank God no one else lost their head in a crisis," Ron said coldly. "'There's no wood,' honestly..."

"Shut up," Harry said. "Lucky Hermione pays attention in Herbology... Beth what's wrong?"

"She summoned the whole dog to where we were so it'd get off the trapdoor," George said as my headache began to disappear.

"Bloody hell," Ron said. "That's insane."

"I know," I said. "Let's keep walking."

We continued down what became a very narrow corridor until we heard a strange rustling sound up ahead.

"That sounds like wings," Ron said.

"Something is moving over there," Harry said. "And there's light ahead."

Then we entered a very large and majestic chamber with light streaming in from its very walls. Inside were several keys with wings fluttering around.

"What the hell?" I said.

"That must mean we need one of them to open that door," George said, pointing at the heavy wooden door at the end of the chamber.

"Which key, though?" Hermione asked frantically.

George went closer to the door and examined the lock.

"A big old fashioned key opens this," he said. "Probably silver, too."

"There's broomsticks there," Ron said. "We could fly up to catch the key."

I nodded and grabbed a broom, mounting it alongside George and Harry.

Suddenly, two Bludgers came out of nowhere and began to fly around, almost slamming Harry in the head.

"Summon me a bat," George demanded as he flew over the keys. I did that and tossed it to him. He flew around, making the Bludgers fly further away from us as Harry and I searched madly for the key we'd be needing.

"I can't see one!" I screamed as I dove under, narrowly avoiding a Bludger. George flew down quickly and sent it away from me.

"I'll tell you when this is over," he whispered, barely audibly, as he passed.

"Wait what?" I asked. He just smirked and shook his head.

"Nothing," he said.

"Come ON, George. Are you-"

"That one!" Harry cried. "That one with the bright blue wings with feathers that are crumpled on one side!"

I sent a scowl in George's direction and flew toward the key, nearly crashing into the ceiling trying to grab it. The key shot downward, away from me, and Harry seized the opportunity to fly right at it and catch it, which then caused the Bludgers to fall to the ground.

"Thanks for handling the Bludgers George," I said as I snapped my fingers to return the bat from wherever it'd come from.

"Don't mention it," he said. "You're okay?"

"I'm fine," I said. "I'd be better if you told me."

"I'll tell you eventually," George said with a mischievous grin. "I like seeing you in agony."

"You're an arse."

"So I've been told."

"Guys, can we focus?" Ron asked desperately. George winked at me and walked over to Harry, who handed him the key. George put it into the keyhole, twisting it hard and opening the door to reveal a room with a giant chessboard as the floor, its pieces lined up and prepared to play.

"Absolutely wicked," Ron said.

"What do we do?" Hermione whispered.

"We play our way across," I mumbled. "Oh crud.... we have to be the chessmen."

"I have an idea," Ron said. "Beth and George, you take the the King and Queen's positions. Harry, take the bishop's place and Hermione go in the castle's place."

"Alright," I said as the gigantic pieces moved to make way for us.

"Just help me out along the way, Beth," Ron said. I nodded and gulped, seeing how massive the pieces on the other side were compared to us.

The game began. Ron ordered a pawn to move forward to squares and I had Harry move four squares diagonally. Then Ron ordered the knight forward, which meant it was taken by the queen. One powerful punch later, the knight crumbled onto the board.

From there, I got so nervous that Ron had to direct the game for the remainder of the time we played. Piece by piece we demolished the other side and sometimes were demolished. George and I waited anxiously at the end of the board as Ron, Hermione, and Harry darted around.

"Almost there," Ron mumbled. "Yes... alright.. it's the only way. I've got to be taken."

"NO!" We all screamed.

"Ron, no," George said. "I-I'll switch with you, I'll be taken instead."

"We can't switch!" Ron said. "That's chess. You've got to make some sacrifices. I take one step forward and she'll take me, that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Harry!"

"But-" I protested.

"Do you want to get the Stone or not?" Ron asked.

"Ron-" Harry said.

"Look, if you don't hurry up then Snape will get the Stone," Ron said. For a horrible moment I thought Harry might just walk off the board but he didn't, and Ron gulped.

"Ready?" He said in a hoarse voice. "Here I go now... don't hang around once you've won."

I sucked in my breath as Ron stepped forward. Instantly, the queen pounced and punched Ron hard in the face, which sent him flying backwards, unconscious. Hermione and I screamed as the queen then picked Ron up and dragged him off to the side.

"H-Harry," I stammered. "N-Now you m-move three spaces l-left."

Harry did so, and the white king across the board took his crown off and threw it at Harry's feet, nearly breaking his ankles. I gave a shaky breath and sprinted off the board to Ron, touching his face gently.

I felt for a pulse and found one, and checked all across his chest and face for any broken bones.

"He's alright," I whispered. "Just out cold, might have a nasty headache later."

"Poor Ronnie," George said. "He's braver than I thought."

"We need to move on," Harry said quietly. "What do you reckon's next?"

"We've had Sprout's," Hermione said. "The Devil's Snare. Flitwick must've charmed the keys and Bludgers. McGonagall probably transfigured the chessmen to bring them to life, which leaves Quirrel and Snape's spells."

"Let's go then," I said.

"I'm going to stay with Ron," Hermione said. "I'll wait here for you to come back..."

"Alright," Harry said. "Come on Beth.. George."

George gripped my hand tightly, and I did not object. He led us into the next room, where we found a troll that had already been knocked unconscious.

"We're lucky we didn't have to fight that one," George said.

"Look!" Harry said, pointing through at the next room. Black flames shot up across the doorway we needed to go through to continue.

"Oh bloody hell," I said, stepping into the room. There was a table with bottles on it, and a scroll.

"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind," I read off the scroll. "Two of us will hell you, which ever you would find, One among us seven will let you move ahead, Another will transport the drinker back instead, Two among our number hold only nettle wine, Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in like, Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore, To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four: First, however slyly the poison tries to bide, You will always find some on nettle wine's left side; Second, different are those who stand at either end, But if you would move onward neither is your friend; Third, as you see clearly, all are different size, Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides; Fourth, the second left and the second on the right, Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."

George and Harry gaped at me.

"We're screwed," Harry said. "Damn it, we're not going to get the Stone."

"Shut up," I said, furrowing my eyebrows. "This isn't too difficult, I just need to think..."

I looked at all the bottles and squinted at them, mumbling the words in the scroll to myself.

"This one," I said, grabbing the smallest bottle. "This will get us through the black fire and to the Stone."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked.

"Of course I'm sure, I'll even drink first," I said. "There's only enough for two small sips..."

"Beth, you stay behind," George said. "I'll go-"

"What?" I snapped. "Of course not. YOU go back and help Hermione get Ron to safety and tell Dumbledore what happened. I'm with Harry. If something Voldemort related is past that door then he and I need to go... the Potters."

"Beth you could get hurt," George said.

"I'm not going to let you go in," I said. "I need to go in there."

George was going to argue but I shook my head.

"Go back," I said. "Please."

"I'll tell you what I saw if you let me go," George blurted out.

I stared at him, contemplating if I should give in or not.

I wasn't just about to let him go in there and face whatever else was guarding the stone, if anything. He wasn't meant to get hurt, he didn't need to offer himself up to suffer. If there really was something or someone to do with Voldemort behind that black fire then it needed to be Harry and I that confronted it.

"Nice try," I said. "But no. I'd rather you stay behind and help your brother than come with mine."

George pursed his lips. He stared at me long and hard, then slowly stepped forward.

"I'm going now," I said quickly, putting a hand softly on his chest and uncorking the vial. He looked at me sadly as I took a small sip and handed it to Harry.

"Come back alive, alright?" George said.

"Of course," I said, winking at him and leaping through the fire.

At first, I didn't see anything. Harry joined me and didn't immediately see anything either.

Then I took a step forward and there was light. A figure stood in the room, grinning maliciously at us.

"I told you it wasn't Snape," I snapped to Harry.


	9. Chapter 9

"You!" Harry spat.

"Me," Quirrel said with a cruel smile. "Your sister doesn't seem as surprised."

"I knew something was off about you!" I cried. "I couldn't read your mind!"

"Ah, of course," Quirrel said. "Yes... that did make me a bit suspicious, didn't it?"

"But I thought..." Harry mumbled. "Snape..."

"Severus?" Quirrel asked with a small laugh. "Yes, Severus does indeed seem the type. So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor st-stuttering Professor Quirrel? Well.. your sister certainly ruled him out, didn't she?"

"But Snape tried to kill me!" Harry protested.

"No no no!" Quirrel said. "No, Severus doesn't get credit for that. Your friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match. She broke my eye contact with you. Snape had been muttering the countercurse in an attempt to save you. If he hadn't done that and your sister hadn't summoned you into her arms I'd have succeeded in knocking you off that broom."

"I told you it wasn't Snape!" I snapped to Harry. But he was no longer focused on that. He was more intrigued on what Quirrel had said.

"Snape was trying to save me?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Of course," Quirrel said. "Why do you think he wanted to referee your next match? He was trying to make sure I didn't do it again. Funny, really... he needn't have bothered. I'd never have done anything the first time if I knew Dumbledore was there, and I surely wouldn't attempt anything at the second game since I knew he was. All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor from winning...What a waste of time for him, really, when after all that, now I'm going to kill you both tonight."

Before I could react, Quirrel snapped his fingers, leading to Harry and I's hands being tied behind our back as other ropes wound themselves tightly around our abdomens.

"You're too nosy to live, Harry Potter," Quirrel said. "Scurrying around the school on Halloween like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone."

"What?" Harry gasped. "You let the troll in?"

While Quirrel was talking, I took the opportunity to summon a knife into my hands and slowly began to cut the ropes around my wrists.

"...unfortunately while everyone else was running around looking for it, Snape, who already suspected me, went straight to the third floor to head me off... and not only did my troll fail to kill either of you Potters but that three headed dog didn't even manage to bite Snape's leg off properly."

Quirrel turned to me, and for a moment I stopped cutting the ropes.

"And you, Elizabeth Potter," he said in a low hiss, "you.... you... who even knew what powers you had when the Dark Lord went to try and kill you the first time around. Who would have suspected? You are much too powerful to be allowed to live, and you nearly figured out that I was behind this. No... you are not meant to live either."

Then he walked toward a mirror that lay on a wall in the chamber. Peering closer at it, I realized it was the Mirror of Erised.

"This mirror is the key to finding the Stone," Quirrel said. "Trust Dumbledore to come up with something like this... but he's in London... I'll be far away by the time he gets back..."

Harry looked at me, and nodded. I seeped into his mind.

" _Keep him talking_!"

I nodded to show him I'd understood.

"So what was the whole deal with you and Snape in the forest?" I demanded.

"Yes," Quirrel said. "He was on to me by that time.... trying to figure out how far I's got. He suspected me all along, you know. Tried to frighten me as if he could, when I had Lord Voldemort on my side."

He stepped closer to the mirror and looked in. "I see the Stone. I'm presenting it to my master. But where is it?"

"But er- Snape always seemed to hate me so much," Harry said. "Why would he try to save me?"

"Oh he does hate you," Quirrel said. "Heavens yes. He was at Hogwarts with your father, didn't you know? They loathed each other. And well... you're quite the spitting image of him, aren't you? And your sister... Snape was best friends with your mother. You're just like her, I suppose you remind him so much of her that he can't bear to be cruel to you. He does like you, Elizabeth Potter, and does hate you, Harry Potter, but he never wanted you dead."

"But I heard you sobbing a few days ago," Harry blurted out. "I thought Snape was threatening you."

Quirrel's face twitched.

"Sometimes," he said softly, "I find it hard to follow my master's instructions. He is a great wizard, and I am weak."

"He was in the classroom with you?" I cried.

"He's with me wherever I go," Quirrel said casually. "I met him when I traveled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those to weak to seek it..."

He came to me, and I nearly dropped the knife in my hands out of surprise.

"You, Elizabeth Potter, have a great gift," Quirrel said. "You still have one more power you've yet to unlock, according to the Duquette's Law of Superhuman Powers. You MUST have five. Therefore when you discover the final one, you will be the most powerful witch on the face of the earth. You could indulge in that power, bathe in it, join the Dark Lord's side and help him take over. Or you could be weak like your parents and refuse to use it."

He glared at me and grinned maliciously.

"I digress," he said. "Since that day I have served the Dark Lord faithfully, although I have let him down many times. He has had to be very hard on me. He does not forgive mistakes easily. When I failed to steal the stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased. He punished me... decided he would have to keep a closer watch on me..."

Then suddenly he faltered, and seemed to be thinking to himself.

"I don't understand," he mumbled. "Is the Stone inside the mirror? Should I break it?"

"Seven years bad luck," I squeaked, trying to cut through the ropes as quickly as possible. I couldn't risk transforming now, Quirrel could hurt Harry.

"What does the mirror do?" Quirrel pleaded. "How foes it work? Help me, Master!"

To Harry and I's horror, a voice came out from inside Quirrel's turban.

"Use the boy.... use the boy..."

"No, not Harry!" I cried.

Quirrel clapped his hands and the ropes around Harry came off.

"Come here," Quirrel demanded, seizing Harry hard by the shoulders. "Look in the mirror and tell me what you see."

Harry looked at the mirror. "I see myself in the middle of my entire family. My mum and dad are there, and my grandparents..."

"Get out of the way!" Quirrel snarled, pushing Harry to the side.

"He lies... he lies!" The voice hissed.

"Potter, look again!" Quirrel demanded. "Tell me the truth!"

"I still see my family!" Harry said. Quirrel shoved him out of the way and heaved angrily, staring into the mirror.

"Use the girl....use the girl..."

I made the knife disappear as Quirrel put Harry back in the chair with ropes around him and removed them from me, pulling me in front of the mirror.

I looked into it and nearly gasped. I wasn't seeing my family like I had last time, I was seeing myself. The figure in the mirror reached into their pocket and took out the blood colored rock I knew to be the Sorcerer's Stone. The figure put it back in their pocket and winked at me. Immediately, I felt something heavy fall in.

"Well?" Quirrel demanded.

"Give me a moment to process this," I said sharply. "It's my family..."

"She lies!" The voice snarled. "Let me speak to her, face to face."

"Master, you are not strong enough!" Quirrel gasped.

"I have strength enough for this!" The voice spat. Quirrel hesitated and began to unwrap his turban, facing away from me. As the folds dropped I took a step back and gasped in horror, seeing Voldemort staring at me from the back of Quirrel's head.

"Elizabeth Potter," he hissed, adding a cruel laugh. "And is that little Harry back there?"

"Don't you dare look at him," I spat.

Voldemort chuckled. "See what I have become? Mere shadow and vapor. I have form only when I can share another's body... but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds... Unicorn blood has strengthened me these past weeks... once I have the Elixir of Life I will be able to create a body of my own. Now Elizabeth... why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said immediately, taking a step backwards.

"Don't be a fool!" Voldemort spat. "Better save your own life by joining me... we could be powerful together... or you can meet the same end as your parents... who died begging for mercy."

I let out a cold laugh. "You expect me to believe that? I remember everything."

"You do?" Voldemort asked. "Ah.. yes.. that day I made a grave mistake. I let you walk out of there alive. I should have killed you instead of merely looking at you and moving on to your brother. Now give me that Stone unless you want your parents to have died in vain and for me to finish killing your brother."

"You won't hurt him," I said fiercely.

"You cannot stop me," Voldemort said with an evil laugh.

I looked at Harry, who was clearly very afraid.

"I'm sorry Harry," I said, reaching my hand out. "But this is the only way you'll be safe."

Concentrating with all my might I summoned him back to the last place we'd been, the room behind the black fire.

"NO!" I heard Harry yell as he landed there.

Voldemort cackled. "You think you can save him, silly girl? As soon as I finish you off I will move on to him."

"I don't think so," I snapped. I became invisible and sprinted across the room, where I felt for the Stone in my pocket. Concentrating, I sent it to where Harry was. I heard it clatter to the floor in the next chamber where he was, and smiled knowing it'd worked.

"FIND HER AND SEIZE HER!" Voldemort was screaming to Quirrel.

I transformed into a panther and leapt forward, pinning Quirrel down. He began to scream and his flesh began to burn where I'd pounced on him. His hands seemed to be melting as he touched my fur and tried to push me off.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? SEIZE HER!" Voldemort was bellowing.

"Master, I cannot!" Quirrel wailed. "My hands... my hands!"

It did not seem as though I had to do anything. Quirrel was melting as he touched me.

"THEN KILL HER, FOOL, AND BE DONE!" Voldemort screeched.

As Quirrel raised his hand I clawed at his face, which made him scream loudly. I then transformed into an elephant and stomped hard on his hand, hearing bones shatter.

Quirrel yelled even more. I transformed back into a human and pressed my hands to his face, making it burn. He struggled against me then threw me off him, causing me to fly back and hit my head hard on the wall. I struggled to get up, and that was all it took for him to catch up to me.

I quickly became invisible and rolled out of the way. But then I felt my form flicker. The injury and the constant transformations had weakened me. My vision blurred and my concentration broke, leaving me laying visible on the floor.

The last thing I saw before blacking out was Quirrel pointing his hand at me and mumbling some curse.

I woke up to Dumbledore smiling at me.

"Ah, you're awake, Elizabeth," he said happily.

"What happened?" I asked, rubbing my head. "Are- Am I not dead?"

"Dead?" Dumbledore asked. "No, you're quite alive."

"The Stone!" I gasped. "Did Quirrel get the Stone? Oh I hope he didn't- Is Harry alright? Please sir I need to know..."

"Quirrel does not have the Stone," Dumbledore said calmly. "Harry is just fine, he was here earlier, actually."

I groaned and sat up, seeing there was a large pile of candy beside my bed.

"Is that-?"

"Tokens from your friends and admirers," Dumbledore said. "What happened down in the dungeon between you, your brother, and Professor Quirrel is a complete secret, so naturally, the whole school knows. Your brother did in fact recall quite a few details and you seem to have become as much of a celebrity as him."

"How long have I been in here?" I asked.

"Five days," Dumbledore said. "Misters Ronald and George Weasley, Miss Granger, and your brother will be most relieved that you've come round. They've been quite worried. I do believe Mr and Miss Hoganson were set on er... how did they word it? 'Hunting down the arse that did this to her.' Your friends might make good Aurors with such attitudes."

I grinned, then became serious again. "But what ended up happening to the Stone?"

"Professor Quirrel did not manage to take it," Dumbledore said. "I arrived to find your brother holding the Stone on the other side of the black flames, then went inside the next chamber in time to block a curse Quirrel was sending in your direction."

"Thank you," I said.

"You're very welcome," Dumbledore said. "I daresay I arrived just in time. The struggle and the usage of your powers weakened you greatly, Madam Pomfrey was afraid you would not wake up."

"Wow," I said. "And Professor... the Stone?"

"Has been destroyed."

"But Nicholas Flamel-"

"Oh, you know about Nicholas?" Dumbledore asked. "Well Nicholas and I have had a chat and agreed it's for the best. He and his wife have enough Elixir to set their affairs in order and then of course..."

"Die," I whispered.

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicholas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all- the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely the things that are worst for them."

"But what about Voldemort?" I asked. "Could he find another way to come back? There's no way he's really gone, especially if he's here now..."

"He's still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share... not truly alive, and not able to be killed," Dumbledore said. "He left Quirrel to die, he shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies. Nevertheless, what you did delayed his return to power. It will take sometime for him to come close to gaining power, especially when depending on someone else to fight what appears to be a losing battle..."

"I need answers," I said. "Why didn't Voldemort kill me? You owe me that now."

"I do owe you that," Dumbledore said. "But the time is not now. Not today. It is not yet the moment in which you must truly comprehend why you are not scarred as your brother was. I know it will aggravate you to hear this again and again, but not yet."

I pursed my lips. "What about my powers? Is what Quirrel said true, about me needing to have specifically five?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "Indeed. Matthew Duquette was a brilliant mind, descended straight from Rowena Ravenclaw herself. There have been few people in history that have had superhuman powers such as the ones bestowed to you, and your grandfather was one of them. It is true that each individual can host five powers. Five only, no more, no less. You can turn invisible. You can shape shift. You can summon objects out of thin air. You can read minds. There is one final ability you will discover in due time, although I cannot tell you exactly when. Just know you are capable of even more."

"That'll only make me weaker, then, won't it?" I asked. "If I get weak trying to balance four powers because the strain is so big then wouldn't five powers debilitate me more?"

"Heavens no," Dumbledore said. "Knowing all five powers gives you strength. You will be able to shape shift without pain, you will be able to summon without growing dizzy. You feel pain because you do not know all your powers. Of course using too much will always cause a slight strain on you but never this bad once you discover the final one."

"That's a relief," I said. "And one more thing sir... how did I end up with the Stone in my pocket?"

"I'm glad you've asked me that," Dumbledore said. "It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that's saying something. You see, only one who wanted to fond the Stone, find it, but not use it, would be able to get it. Otherwise they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking the Elixir of Life. My brain surprises me sometimes. Now, enough questions. I suggest you make a start on those sweets. Ah! Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans! I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit flavored one, and since then I'm afraid I've rather lost my liking for them. But I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee, don't you?"

"Professor I don't think that's toffee," I said, right as he popped the bean into his mouth.

"Alas!" He said with a chuckle. "Earwax!"

______

At the End of Term Feast that afternoon, I got a chance to see my brother again, only to find him very sad about the fact Gryffindor had not won the House Cup.

"Cheer up," I said. "There's always next year."

Harry was about to say something, but Dumbledore went up to speak.

"Another year gone!" He said happily. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it had been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts.

"Now as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: in fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points. In third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty two points, in second, Ravenclaw, with four hundred and twenty six, and in the lead Slytherin with four hundred and seventy two."

The Slytherins began to cheer loudly, and I saw Draco Malfoy bang his goblet on the table with a cruel grin in our direction.

"Yes, yes, well done Slytherin," Dumbledore said. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The silence that followed wiped the smiles off the Slytherins' faces.

"I have a few last minute points to dish out. Let me see, yes," Dumbledore said, clearing his throat and looking at us with a smile.

"First, to Mr George Weasley, for taking leadership in an attempt to keep everyone safe, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Batavia, Bixby, Fred, Lee, and Katie cheered loudly and ambushed George with hugs as he grinned proudly.

"Second, to Mr Ronald Weasley, for the best played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

"Those are my younger brothers!" Percy yelled proudly. "George kept 'em alive and Ron beat McGonagall's giant chess set!"

Ron looked very pink, and Harry clapped him on the back.

"Third, to Miss Hermione Granger, for the use of cool logic in the face of danger, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Hermione buried her face in her hands, and I suspect she started to cry.

"Fourth, to Mr Harry Potter, for taking initiative and showing outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

Harry gaped at me and I ruffled his hair. Then everything went silent as Dumbledore coughed.

"Many might say that this is the absolute worst fatal flaw to have," Dumbledore said. "And perhaps it is. Fifth, to Miss Elizabeth Potter, for fighting her hardest and sacrificing herself in an attempt to keep the people she loved safe, even if it meant certain defeat for her, I award Gryffindor house seventy points."

The Gryffindor table erupted into very loud cheers and all surrounded me, patting me on the back and ruffling my hair. Across from me, both sets of twins began to chant my name.

"There are all kinds of courage," Dumbledore said, holding his hand up to silence everyone. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom."

Neville looked so pale in the face as everyone erupted into cheers that I was afraid he would faint.

"Which means," Dumbledore said, "that we need a little change of decoration."

As soon as he clapped his hands, the decorative Slytherin banners that hung overhead became Gryffindor banners.

The rest of the feast was nothing compared to the joy we were all feeling for this brilliant moment of being awarded so many points.

When we finally arrived at King's Cross Station, Bixby and Batavia left us with a big hug and promises to visit over the summer before going to America again. Then Lee left with his family, then Katie, which left Fred and George and I to walk to where Mrs Weasley was waiting nearby the familiar Uncle Vernon I would now be living with.

"Elizabeth."

I turned to see my godfather was waiting for me. I leapt into his arms and hugged him tight.

"You and Harry are indeed taking after your father," he said. "I'm going to miss you."

"We'll try to visit, I promise," I said.

"You'd better," my godfather said with a grin. "Go see Mrs Weasley now, she'll be waiting for a hug too."

He ruffled my hair and sent me off to follow the twins.

"Beth!" Ginny cried, running right to me and throwing her arms around me.

"Yikes," Fred said. "Rather say hello to her than us?"

"She's my sister, silly," Ginny said, going to hug Fred and George individually.

"Busy year?" Mrs Weasley asked Harry and I as she pulled us into a hug.

"Very," I said. "Thanks for the fudge and the sweater."

"Yes, thank you," Harry said.

"Oh it was nothing, dear," Mrs Weasley said.

"Ready are you?"

I looked to my right and saw Uncle Vernon had come closer, and was purple faced.

"Almost," I said.

"You must be Harry and Elizabeth's family!" Mrs Weasley said.

"In a manner of speaking," Uncle Vernon said gruffly. "Hurry up you two, we haven't got all day."

He then walked away. As Harry began to say his goodbyes to his friends, I walked up to the twins and hugged them.

"We'll be missing you, mastermind," Fred said. "When you visit over the summer we'll have you check out some things we've been planning."

"Alright," I said. Fred moved to the side and left me a clear path to George, who smiled.

"Are you ever going to tell me?" I asked as I hugged him.

George pulled away and hesitated. He put his hands on my shoulders. "Well..."

"Oh and Beth!" Fred piped up, making George and jump apart. "Try and find out what your last power is so you can start transforming into dragons more often."

"I'll try," I said. "George, what were you going to say?"

He smiled and shook his head. "Nothing."

"Oh come on! You keep saying that. If it was nothing you wouldn't be keeping it a secret for this long."

"I'll tell you someday," George said, waving to me as Harry began to lead me towards our Uncle Vernon.

"They don't know we're not allowed to use magic at home!" Harry said happily. "I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer."

"Hmm," I said thoughtfully, looking back to see Fred appeared to be scolding George. Before I could stop myself, I went right into Fred's mind.

" _When the bloody hell is he going to tell her that-"_

I immediately exited his mind and shook my head. If I was going to find out what this was I wanted to know because George told me.

I suppose I'll be needing to wait until next year to find out.


	10. Chapter 10

"THIRD TIME THIS WEEK!" Uncle Vernon roared across the table, making me nearly spill the bacon from the pan. "IF YOU CAN'T CONTROL THAT OWL, IT'LL GAVE TO GO!"

"She's bored!" Harry protested. "She's used to flying around outside. If I could just let her out at night-"

"Do I look stupid?" Uncle Vernon snarled. "I know what'll happen if that owl's let out."

"Yeah," I said coldly as I slapped some bacon on Dudley's plate. "We'll communicate with our friends and they'll come curse you, huh?"

"Don't you threaten me!" Uncle Vernon spat.

"I can threaten you all I want," I said. "You and your wife and son are no match for me. I don't even need my wand."

Uncle Vernon was about to say something but Dudley belched loudly.

"I want more bacon," he snapped.

"I've given you enough," I said. "If you want more then finish that first, bloody hell you're a selfish-"

"Don't you dare speak to Dudley that way!" Aunt Petunia cried.

"Teach him manners and then I won't have to!" I said, sitting down abruptly beside Harry and giving him more bacon than I gave to everyone else at the table.

"Why has he got more?" Dudley demanded.

"It's his birthday," I said. "He's also not as wide as an elephant's leg."

"How dare you-?"

"Save it," I said. "I am trying to eat, after all."

Aunt Petunia stared at me indignantly.

This whole summer had been ridiculous. Hedwig had to constantly be locked in her cage, which meant no sending letters. Funnily enough, neither Harry or I had received any either, which made me believe that Uncle Vernon might be intercepting him.

The Dursleys really were awful people, and were irritated that they couldn't stop me from speaking my mind. I'd been threatening them left and right, although I hadn't actually told them what I could really do. I left it to their tiny brains to try and imagine what powers I had.

They assumed I couldn't do anything because all my spellbooks were locked under the stairs where Harry used to sleep. Little did they know that I wasn't kidding when I said I could take them all wandless.

I don't really know why I haven't revealed my powers to them. I suppose I'm afraid that they might throw Harry and I out or that I might lose control of myself or something. I've used them of course, like turning invisible and sneaking down to get food, or reading Uncle Vernon's mind to know whether he was still oblivious to the fact we weren't allowed to use magic outside of school, and had turned into a bowtruckle to pick the lock and let Hedwig out once after she started becoming depressed.

I still haven't discovered what my fifth and final power was, but I'm working on it. I read history books like mad these days, searching for all the people who'd ever had a circumstance like mine. I'd read all six of Duquette's books on each individual person, and none of the powers worked for me. I couldn't control fire or water. I couldn't move things with my mind. I couldn't resurrect the dead (I never experimented this but I know I can't do it). And I can't magically heal anyone.

"Pass the frying pan," Dudley huffed at Harry.

"You've forgotten the magic word," Harry said irritably.

This was a mistake.

Uncle Vernon jumped to his feet and glared at Harry angrily.

"I meant 'please'!" Harry cried. "I didn't mean-"

"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT SAYING THAT WORD IN OUR HOUSE?" Uncle Vernon snarled. He advanced to Harry and I dove in front of him.

"Don't you dare," I said, breathing heavily. "You don't get to come anywhere near him."

Uncle Vernon looked at me as though he contemplated slapping me then beating me over the head with a frying pan. He went back to sit down.

"Well," he said, breathing unsteadily, "today is a very important day."

Harry looked at me, confused. I shrugged.

"This could well be the day I make the biggest deal of my career," Uncle Vernon continued.

Harry and I rolled our eyes at each other. This was about that stupid dinner party he was having.

"I think we should run through the schedule one more time," Uncle Vernon said. "We should all be in position at eight o'clock. Petunia, you will be-?"

"In the lounge, waiting to welcome them graciously to our home."

"Good good. And Dudley?"

"I'll be waiting to open the door," Dudley said with a strange smile. "May I take your coats, Mr and Mrs Mason?"

"They'll love him!" Aunt Petunia trilled.

"And you two?" Uncle Vernon asked.

"In our room," Harry said.

"Making no noise and pretending we don't exist," I piped up.

"Exactly," Uncle Vernon said. "I will lead them into the lounge, introduce you, Petunia, and pour them drinks. At eight fifteen..."

"I'll announce dinner," Aunt Petunia said.

"And I'll say, 'May I take you through to the dining room, Mrs Mason?'" Dudley offered.

"My perfect little gentleman!" Aunt Petunia sniffed.

"And you?" Uncle Vernon asked us nastily.

"Same as before," I said, annoyed.

"Precisely," Uncle Vernon said.

"Now, we should aim to get in a few good compliments at dinner. Any ideas, Petunia?"

Aunt Petunia didn't seem to be able to come up with anything. Uncle Vernon's jaw went slack.

"Compliment their clothes," I said dully. "Feed Mr Mason's ego- didn't you say he golfed or something? Get them talking so you don't have to. If the attention is centered around them, they'll be pleased and make the deal instantly. The less YOU talk, the better it will be."

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia stared at me.

"I'm right," I said. "Don't need to thank me."

Uncle Vernon just shook his head and turned to Dudley.

"How about- We had to write an essay about our hero at school, Mr Mason, and I wrote about you," Dudley said. Aunt Petunia started sobbing and I burst out laughing.

"Excuse me?" Uncle Vernon asked nastily.

"I'd like to see him worm his way out of that hole!" I said, holding my side. "Tell me Dudley, how the ruddy hell would you explain to Mr Mason the content of such an essay? He isn't overly famous and you've never MET him. It's too unbelievable... ah.."

"You be quiet," Uncle Vernon snarled. "Now, the Masons don't know anything about you or your brother and it's going to stay that way. When dinner's over, you take Mrs Mason into the lounge for coffee, Petunia, and I'll bring the subject around to drills. With any luck, I'll have the deal signed and sealed before the news at ten. Be shopping for a vacation home in Majorca this time tomorrow."

Aunt Petunia seemed overjoyed, and I made a face to Harry.

"Right," Uncle Vernon said. "I'm off into town to pick up the dinner jackets for Dudley and me-"

"Dudley and I," I corrected him, making him stare at me in disgust.

"Whatever," he snapped. "You both stay out of your aunt's way while she's cleaning."

"The boy will," Aunt Petunia said. "Girl- you will help me clean the lounge. Get to it."

Harry went outside and I sighed, summoning a vacuum into my arms to begin to clean.

Shortly after, Harry scared Dudley out of his wits when he pretended to do magic, so he ended up having to work on the exterior of the house while I cleaned like mad from the inside with several tools that came quite in handy, and Aunt Petunia couldn't understand where they'd come from.

At half past seven, Aunt Petunia allowed Harry and I to eat a slice of bread and some cheese before shooing us upstairs, where we found a house elf waiting for us.

"Hello," I said slowly.

"Harry and Elizabeth Potter!" The elf said happily. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir and miss, such an honor it is..."

"Thanks," I said. "Erm..."

"Not to be rude or anything," Harry said, "but this isn't a great time for us to have a house elf in our bedroom."

"But surely there's a reason why you're here," I said quickly, seeing the elf appeared kind of offended.

"Oh yes, sir and miss," Dobby said, wide eyed. "Dobby has come to tell you sir and miss, it is difficult, sir and miss, Dobby wonders where to begin...."

"Go ahead and take a seat," I said cordially, motioning to the chair.

The elf burst into tears, and I stared wide eyed at him.

"Sit down!" The elf wailed. "Never... never ever..."

"I'm sorry!" Harry said. "She didn't mean to er... offend you or anything..."

"I'm really sorry Dobby but could you please quiet down?" I pleaded, hearing the voices downstairs growing lower.

"Offend Dobby!" Dobby choked. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard like an equal-"

"You can't have met many decent wizards," Harry said. I tried to calmly pat Dobby's head in an attempt to get him to stop sobbing.

Dobby shook his head to what Harry said, then leapt up and banged his head on the window, shouting "Bad Dobby, Bad Dobby!"

"I order you to stop!" I shrieked. "Please..."

But Dobby didn't. Harry sprang up and pulled Dobby into the bed. In the commotion, Hedwig had woken up and screeched loudly.

"Dobby has to punish himself, miss," Dobby cried. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir."

"Your family? As in the family you serve?" I asked.

Dobby nodded. "Dobby's family does not know Dobby is here. Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming to see you, sir and miss. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven for this. If they ever knew, sir and miss..."

"But won't they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?" Harry asked.

"Dobby doubts it, sir. Dobby is always having to punish himself for something, sir. They lets Dobby get on with it, sir. Sometimes they reminds me to do extra punishments."

"Why don't you just leave?" Harry asked. "Escape?"

"A house elf must be set free, sir," Dobby said sadly. "And the family will never set Dobby free... Dobby will serve the family until he dies, sir..."

"Can't we find someway to help you?" I asked. "I don't know much about how house elves work but I'm sure-"

Dobby let put another high pitched wail. Harry tried to stop him and I ran fearfully to the door, hoping Uncle Vernon wasn't on his way up.

"Please!" I cried. "Please be quiet! If the Dursleys hear anything, if they find out you're here-"

"Harry and Elizabeth Potter ask if they can help Dobby... Dobby has heard of both of your greatness... but of your goodness, Dobby never knew..."

"We're not that great," Harry said. "Well I'm not... Elizabeth is-"

"I'm not either," I said.

"Harry and Elizabeth Potter are humble and modest!" Dobby said. "Harry and Elizabeth Potter speak not of their triumph over He Who Must Not Be Named-"

"Voldemort?" Harry said.

Dobby covered his mouth dramatically with his hands. "Ah, speak not the name, sir! Speak not the name!"

"Sorry," Harry said. "I'm sorry..."

"Dobby heard tell," Dobby said, leaning in closely, "that Harry and Elizabeth Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time just weeks ago.... that Harry and Elizabeth Potter escaped yet again..."

"Only because Elizabeth almost died for me," Harry said.

"Ah, miss!" Dobby said, wiping tears from his face, and turning to me. "Elizabeth Potter is valiant and bold! She has braved many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry and Elizabeth Potter... to warn them... even if he does have to shut his ears in an oven door... Harry and Elizabeth Potter must not go back to Hogwarts!"

"Not go back?" Harry spluttered immediately. "But we've got to go back. Term stars in September and-and it's all that's keeping me going, honestly! You don't know what it's like here. I don't belong here. I belong in your world- at Hogwarts."

"No no no!" Dobby cried, pulling his ears. "Harry and Elizabeth Potter must stay where they are safe! They are too great, too good, to lose. If Harry and Elizabeth Potter go back to Hogwarts, they will be in mortal danger!"

"Why?" I demanded. "Why would we be in mortal danger?"

"There is a plot, Elizabeth Potter!" Dobby said. "A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year! Dobby has known it for months, miss! Harry and Elizabeth Potter must not put themselves in peril! They is too important sir and miss!"

"What do you mean terrible things?" I asked. "And who's plotting them? We can take them-"

Dobby made a choking noose and banged his head against the wall so aggressively that Harry went pale. He jumped up to pull Dobby back and restrain him.

"You don't have to tell us the details exactly," I whispered, growing more and more anxious by the minute.

"Hang on," Harry said. "This hasn't got anything to do with Vol- sorry- with You Know Who, has it? You could just shake or nod your head..."

To our surprise, Dobby shook his head.

"Not- not He Who Must Not Be Named, sir," Dobby gasped.

"Someone else then," I mumbled. "Someone that despises us as much as You Know Who?"

Dobby did not confirm anything.

"I can't think who else would actually have a chance of making horrible things happen at Hogwarts," Harry said. "I mean there's Dumbledore, for one thing, er- you know who Dumbledore is, don't you, Dobby?"

Dobby bowed his head.

"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. Dobby knows it, sir and miss. Dobby has heard Dumbledore's powers rival those of He Who Must Not be Named at the height of his strength. But sir and miss..."

Dobby pursed his lips together and began to whisper. "There are powers Dumbledore doesn't... powers no decent wizard..."

Dobby went silent for a moment, and then suddenly seized the desk lamp and beat himself repeatedly on the head with it, letting out an earsplitting yelp.

My heart stopped as I heard silence fall downstairs. Harry's eyes widened and he looked at me fearfully.

"Dudley must've left his television on again, the little tyke!" I heard Uncle Vernon say just before I heard his footsteps coming down the hall.

"Shit," I said. "Quick! In the closet!"

Harry picked up Dobby as I grabbed the first Muggle board game I could find in the closet, setting the pieces up madly just as Harry dove toward me and Uncle Vernon opened the door.

"What- the- devil- are- you- doing?" Uncle Vernon asked in a whisper that was so fierce I hardly understood it through his gritted teeth.

"Playing," I said quickly.

"Then what the ruddy hell was that screech?" Uncle Vernon demanded.

"Um," Harry said.

"It was nothing," I said. "Nothing at all."

"Well you've succeeded in ruining the punch line of my Japanese golfer joke!" Uncle Vernon said. "One more sound and you'll both wish you'd never been born!"

With that he stomped out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

I looked at Harry and gulped.

Dobby suddenly burst out of the closet, and I groaned.

"See what it's like here?" Harry snapped at Dobby. "See why we've got to go back to Hogwarts? It's the only place we've got! We can't go back to our Uncle Remus' place! It's the only place we've got- well I think we've got friends."

"Friends who don't even write to Harry and Elizabeth Potter?" Dobby asked slyly.

I stared at him incredulously. "All this time I thought perhaps Uncle Vernon was intercepting our letters. But you mean to tell me that you know something about this? That YOU'VE been stopping our letters?"

Dobby looked at us sheepishly. "Dobby has them here, miss." He suddenly pulled out a very thick wad of envelopes. I saw two letters from Batavia and Bixby, three from Katie, three from Lee, four from Fred, and seven from George among the other letters Harry had received.

"Harry and Elizabeth Potter mustn't be angry," Dobby pleaded. "Dobby hoped... if Harry and Elizabeth Potter thought their friends had forgotten them, they might not want to go back to school, sir and miss."

Harry and I both reached for the letters immediately, but Dobby snatched them away.

"Harry and Elizabeth Potter will have them, sir and miss, if they give Dobby their word that they will not return to Hogwarts. Ah sir and miss, this is a danger Harry and Elizabeth Potter must not face! Say you won't go back, sir and miss!"

"No!" Harry and I said at once.

"Give me those damn letters!" I added, making a wild attempt to take them from him.

"Then Harry and Elizabeth Potter leave Dobby no choice," Dobby said sadly.

Then he darted out the door, and sprinted down the stairs.

"Technically we should stay up here," I said frantically. "If he does something then Uncle Vernon can't really blame us, we'll have been here the entire time-"

But Harry wasn't listening. He sprang after him, and was trying very hard to be quiet. Cursing, I followed him down the stairs and down the hall looking madly for Dobby.

"... tell Petunia that very funny story about those American plumbers, Mr Mason. She's been dying to hear..."

Harry pulled my arm and led me past the dining room to the kitchen, where we found Aunt Petunia's pudding masterpiece with cream and sugared violets adorned on top was floating very near the ceiling, Dobby controlling it from the nearby cupboard.

I reached my hand out, and tried to summon it.

"I can't-" I gasped, feeling dizzy. "I can't summon it!"

"Miss will not be able to summon it," Dobby said. "Dobby's magic is too strong."

"Dobby please, they'll kill us!" Harry said as I collapsed on the floor, my head spinning wildly.

"Harry and Elizabeth Potter must say they will not go back to school!"

"Dobby please!" Harry croaked.

"Say it, sir and miss."

"We can't-" I moaned, trying to get up and feeling my legs give out underneath me.

"Then Dobby must do it, sir and miss, for Harry and Elizabeth Potter's own good."

I made a final attempt to catch or summon the pudding as it came down, but had no such luck. I was weakened so much from struggling against elf magic that I was unable to stop the pudding from falling to the floor with a heart stopping crash. Cream flew all over the room, splattering the windows and walls, the dish holding it shattering into a million pieces.

"No!" I cried.

Dobby looked at us sadly. Then, with a crack, he vanished.

In the dining room, there were screams. Uncle Vernon burst into the kitchen to find Harry and I covered head to foot in Aunt Petunia's pudding. Harry was standing with his arms stretched out, and I was on the floor groaning.

Uncle Vernon tried to explain, and it seemed for a minute he might manage to gloss the whole thing over. He told the Masons we were deeply disturbed and that I suffered some sort of epilepsy that rendered me unconscious and whatnot.

I expected perhaps then, Uncle Vernon might make us clean the mess and only starve us for a few weeks then let us go back to Hogwarts, but thanks to that damn owl it didn't happen.

A huge barn owl swooped into the dining room through the window. It dropped the letter it was carrying onto Mr Mason's head and swooped away. Mrs Mason screamed her head of as if she was some sort of banshee and ran out of the house shouting that we were lunatics. Mr Mason stayed long enough to tell the Dursleys that his wife was deathly afraid of birds and asked whether this was some sort of joke.

"It's not the Dursleys fault!" I cried weakly as Mr Mason ran out. But he wouldn't hear it, and instead drove home with his wife.

Uncle Vernon came angrily to us in the kitchen, handing me a letter.

"Read it!" He snarled.

I cleared my throat. My temples ached as I began to read aloud:

_"Dear Miss Potter,_

_We have received intelligence that a Hover Charm was used at your place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past nine._

_As you know, underage witches are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school. (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C)._

_We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks Statute of Secrecy._

_Enjoy your holidays!_

_Your sincerely,_

_Mafalda Hopkirk_

_IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE_

_Ministry of Magic_ "

Harry gaped at me uncertainly.

Uncle Vernon looked so pleased, it was like Christmas had come early. "You didn't tell us you weren't allowed to use magic outside school. Forgot to mention it... Slipped your mind, daresay..."

"Not with wands, no," I snapped. "Obviously you won't believe me when I say we didn't do this, but I have magic that doesn't require a wand or the supervision of the Ministry."

"Really?" Uncle Vernon snarled. "Like what? Come on, girl, you've been threatening us with it all summer! Why don't you show us?"

With that I turned into a lion, and Uncle Vernon leapt back in shock, grabbing the wall for support. Then I became a rat, and began to scurry around his feet, making him yell and jump around like a maniac. I became human again and summoned Dudley and Aunt Petunia into the room, which made them all scream like they were being tortured. Then I gripped Harry's hand and became invisible, which made Aunt Petunia faint. When we became visible again, I gave Harry a weak smile and leaned on him for support, Uncle Vernon fanning his wife's face as Dudley gazed at me in disbelief.

"That proof enough for you?" I hissed.

"I'm locking you both up," Uncle Vernon roared. "You've never going back to that school! Never!"

He seized us both by the hair and dragged us upstairs. I was too weak to fight back.

The next morning, bars had been fitted outside Harry and I's window. Then a cat flap was made in the bedroom door in order to give us small amounts of food three times a day. We were only allowed to use the bathroom in the morning and in the evening.

I could have tried to turn into a cat and slipped out the door to open the door for Harry and I to escape, but we agreed that I was too weakened to be using my powers and definitely would be needing to rest as much as possible. The limited food supply had Harry and I sleeping most of the day. It was only right that I gave him most of the food, so as he maintained his body weight I got thinner and thinner, and was growing weaker as every day passed.

One day, I didn't feel like eating at all. Harry was left to all the food we got that day as I rested my head by the window, looking out into the Muggle world and hating every bit of it. It was unfair we had to stay here instead of with my godfather. I couldn't believe Dumbledore had made Harry stay here since he was so little. This must've been horrid for him...

A bright light interrupted my train of thought as I looked into the night sky. A car pulled up by the window, which should have been impossible since we were on the second floor. I touched the window and narrowed my eyes as far as they would go to see past the bright light.

I almost sobbed joyfully as I saw Fred, George, and Ron climb out of the car.

"Harry!" I cried gratefully. "Look!"


	11. Chapter 11

"You're here!" I gasped, feeling tears slowly building up in my eyes. Harry wretched the window open to speak to the three Weasleys through the bars.

"How did you-?" Harry began.

"Are you two alright?" George asked, leaning close to the bars and slowly slipping his hand inside to touch my face. I held his hand and shivered. I shook my head slightly.

"What's been going on?" Ron asked. "Why haven't either of you been answering any letters? I've asked for you both to come over about twelve times and then Dad came home saying Elizabeth got an official warning for using magic in front of Muggles!"

"I swear that wasn't her," Harry said. "How does he know?"

"He works for the Ministry," Ron said. "Elizabeth.. you KNOW we're not supposed to do spells outside school-"

"I didn't!" I said, squeezing George's hand. "I didn't, I swear I didn't."

"And you should talk," Harry said to Ron, motioning at the floating car.

"Oh, that doesn't count," Fred said happily. "We're only borrowing this. It's Dad's. We didn't enchant it."

"Let's just get you out of here," Ron said. "We've come to take you home with us."

"But you can't do magic to get us out," Harry said.

"Oh we don't need to," Ron said. "You forget who's here with me."

Fred grinned. "Alright, tie this rope around the bars, Harry."

He tossed a rope to Harry. He tied it as George caressed my face.

"What have they been doing to you?" George asked. "You're so thin..."

"I'm explain soon," I said.

"Now stand back!" Fred said.

I pulled Harry back. The car revved louder and moved forward. The bars were pulled clean off the window, without making too much noise. Once Ron hoisted the bars into the car, Fred backed the car as close as possible to the window.

"Get in," Ron said.

"Our Hogwarts stuff is in the cupboard under the stairs," Harry said. "We can't leave this room, Beth can't shape shift anymore-"

"What?" George snapped.

"I'll explain soon!" I said.

He looked furious. He and Fred climbed through the window. George wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug.

Fred began to pick the lock, and George helped near the end, once I'd stopped crying.

They went downstairs and began to collect the trunks as I moved wildly around the room and gathered everything we needed. Once most of it was in a bag, I sent Harry off into the car while Fred and George came up.

They pushed the trunks through the window and I finished gathering all of the other things we needed to take with us.

I handed the bag to Harry, and was about to climb through the window when Hedwig screeched.

"We're forgetting her!" Harry said at the same time as Uncle Vernon yelled "THAT RUDDY OWL!"

"Crap!" I hissed, leaping back into the room and hoisting Hedwig's cage through the window into Harry and Ron's waiting arms.

Uncle Vernon hammered on the door, and it crashed down, right as I made a leap for the window.

For a moment he just stared, but then his face grew purple with rage. "Petunia! They're getting away! THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!"

I reached my arm out, and Harry and George pulled me through the window and into the car right as Uncle Vernon tried to grab my leg.

"Put your foot down, Fred!" Ron yelled as I succeeded in entering the car.

And Fred did. The car shot forward, and I heaved loudly, seeing the Dursleys staring at us, dumbstruck.

"See you next summer!" Harry yelled, a very wide smile on his face.

Ron let Hedwig out to fly beside us as I made Harry sit down in the car.

"Bloody hell, Beth," Ron said. "You're thinner than Harry was when I met him."

"They've been starving us," Harry said. "I'll get to that later..."

"So this is why some Purebloods say Muggles are monsters," George said through gritted teeth. "Come sit up front with us, Beth."

I sat between him and Fred, who was driving the car.

"And what's this about you not being able to use your powers?" Fred asked.

"I'm not strong enough," I said. "We hardly get enough food. I-I leave most of it for Harry."

"You do look really thin," Fred said. "Bloody hell. As soon as we get home we'll cook you a feast!"

"Thanks," I said. "You don't have to."

"Yes we do, have you seen yourself? Now would you look at that, Georgie, little Beth is growing up! She's got breasts now!"

"Oh shut up," I said. "I do not."

"Yes you do, look George!"

"I'm not looking there, Fred."

"Excuse the interruption, but what happened with using magic outside of Hogwarts?" Ron asked impatiently.

"Ah," I said. "Tell them about Dobby, Harry."

Harry did. He went into a rant about what had happened thanks to Dobby and explained his warning.

"That is very fishy," Fred said.

"Definitely dodgy," George agreed. "So he wouldn't even tell you who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?"

"No," I said. "And I don't think he could. Every time he got close to letting something slip, he'd start punishing himself."

"That's still suspicious," George said.

"Put it this way," Fred said. "House elves have got powerful magic of their own, which explains why you couldn't summon the pudding from him, Beth, but they can't usually use it without their master's permission. I reckon old Dobby was sent to stop you coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?"

"Draco Malfoy hates me," Harry said.

"Draco Malfoy?" George asked. "Not Lucius Malfoy's son?"

"Must be, it's not a very common name, is it?" Harry asked.

"I've heard Dad talking about him," George said. "He was a big supporter of You Know Who."

"And when You Know Who disappeared," Fred added, "Lucius Malfoy came back saying he'd never meant any of it. Load of dung- Dad reckons he was right in You Know Who's inner circle."

"I suppose it's possible," I said. "The Malfoys must own a house elf. Those are usually owned by old, rich, wizarding families."

"Yeah, Mum's always wishing we had a house elf to do the ironing," George said. "But ah... all we've got is a lousy old ghoul in the attic and gnomes all over the garden. House elves come with big old manors and castles and places like that. You wouldn't catch one in our house."

"I'm glad we came to get you two," Ron said. "I was getting worried. Thought it was Errol's fault at first, until Fred and George said all their other friends hadn't been able to contact Beth either."

"Who's Errol?" Harry asked.

"Our owl," Ron said. "He's ancient. Wouldn't be the first time he'd collapsed on a delivery. I tried to borrow Hermes-"

"-Percy's owl," I said to Harry.

"-but Percy wouldn't let me," Ron said. "Said he needed him."

"Percy's been acting very oddly this summer," George said. "And he has been sending a lot of letters and spending a lot of time shut up in his room... I mean there's only so many times you can polish a prefect badge... you're driving too far west, Fred..."

Fred turned to drive back the way he was supposed to.

"So how is everyone?" I asked.

"Worried sick about you," George said. "Bixby and Batavia almost came all the way back from America to see if you were alive. Katie was scared and kept owling us to go check on you and Lee reckoned you might have accidentally scared the Muggles into locking you up."

"That is technically what happened," I said.

"At least you showed them," Fred said.

"It didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped," I said. "I thought it might make them nicer to Harry and I but in the moment it was really just a bad idea."

"I'd have loved to see old Dursley's face when you turned into a rat," George said.

"Wouldn't she look the same though?" Fred asked with a quizzical look on his face.

"You are an ARSE, Fred Fabian Weasley," I said.

"It's my specialty, Elizabeth Lily Potter," Fred said cordially.

"Yuck, don't use my full name," I said. Fred rolled his eyes and kept driving. I shivered and leaned on George's shoulder.

Meanwhile, Harry and Ron were deep in conversation about what Mr Weasley did for the Ministry.

"Dad's crazy about everything to do with Muggles. Our shed's full of Muggle stuff," Fred said. "Takes it apart... puts a spell on it... puts it back together. It he raided OUR house he'd have to put himself under arrest. It drives Mum mad."

"Ah... That's the main road," George said. "We'll be there in ten minutes. Just as well, it's getting light."

"Reckon your mum will be really mad you took the car?" I asked.

"We won't be letting her know," Fred said.

"Here's the plan," George said. "We go upstairs really quietly and wait for Mum to call us up for breakfast. Then Ron will come bounding downstairs going 'Mum, look who turned up in the night!' and she'll be so pleased to see Harry and Beth that no one need ever mention the fact that we flew the car."

"It's your mum we're talking about," I said. "She figured out I was lying about sneaking into the broom shed with you before I even knew I was lying."

"You're just a terrible liar," Fred said.

We parked the car in the garage. We'd only taken a few steps toward the house when Mrs Weasley appeared around the corner, coming toward us angrily.

"Ah," Fred said.

"Oh dear," George said.

"So," Mrs Weasley said, approaching us and standing in front of us with her hands on her hips.

"Morning, Mum," George said innocently.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" Mrs Weasley whispered angrily.

"Sorry Mum, but see, we had to-"

Despite the fact that Ron and the twins were all taller than their mother, her approaching them ragefully was enough to make us all cower.

"Beds empty! No note! Car gone- you could have crashed- out of my mind with worry- did you care? - never as long as I've lived- you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy-"

"Perfect Percy," Fred mumbled under his breath.

"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" Mrs Weasley screeched. "You could have DIED, you could have been SEEN, you could have lost your father his JOB!"

Then she breathed deeply and smiled to Harry and I. "I'm very pleased to see you, dears. Come in and have some breakfast."

I took one step forward and tripped, feeling a rush of dizziness. George caught me around the waist and hoisted me up.

"Elizabeth dear!" Mrs Weasley said, touching my face. "Are you alright?"

"They were starving them, Mum!" George said. "They needed to get out of there!"

Mrs Weasley's expression softened. George led me into the house with Ron, Fred, and Harry trailing behind. Mrs Weasley immediately began to prepare food for us as George coaxed me into eating a small plum on the table.

He then grabbed bread when it was ready and buttered it for me, making me eat it.

"You need to eat too," I said, my mouth full of food.

"I haven't been starved," George said, looking at me with his eyes full of worry.

After the boys had all eaten, Mrs Weasley ordered them to go degnome the garden. She wanted Harry and I to go upstairs and sleep, but we both insisted we'd go outside with everyone else.

"Alright," Mrs Weasley sighed. "If you want to help, Harry, then of course, that's very sweet of you. But Elizabeth , you will not even TOUCH a gnome. You may sit outside while they work. Now, let's see what Lockhart's got to say on the subject."

She pulled out a heavy book, which made George groan.

"Mum, we know how to degnome a garden!"

Mrs Weasley didn't listen. She flipped through the book, mumbling to herself how marvelous Gilderoy Lockhart's methods were.

"Batavia's mum dated him when they went to Hogwarts," I said as Fred gagged.

"And now Mum fancies him!" Fred said.

"Don't be so ridiculous, Fred," Mrs Weasley said, her cheeks pink. "All right, boys, if you think you know better than Lockhart, you can go and get on with it, and woe betide you if there's a single gnome in the garden when I come out to inspect it."

I spent the next hour watching the boys compete. The first competition dealt with how far they could throw the gnomes. The second was how many they could grab at once to throw. The air was thick with flying gnomes the entire time.

"They'll be back," Ron said. "They love it here... Dad's too soft with them. Thinks they're funny."

"They are funny," I said. "Remember that time we built a catapult to shoot the gnomes so far that they didn't come back for a week?"

"Mum and Dad were so surprised we managed to built the catapult," George said. "And they were even more surprised to learn you'd made the plans for it and all we'd done was built it."

The front door slammed, which made us all jump.

"Dad's home!" Fred said. We all moved quickly into the house, where we found Mr Weasley sitting at the kitchen table.

"What a night!" He mumbled as we all sat around him. "Nine raids. Nine! And old Mundungus Fletcher tried to put a hex on me when I had my back turned."

"I never liked him," I said.

"Did you find anything, Dad?" George asked eagerly.

"All I got were a few shrinking door keys and a biting kettle," Mr Weasley yawned. "There was some pretty nasty stuff that wasn't my department, though. Mortlake was taken away for questioning about some extremely odd ferrets, but that's the Committee on Experimental Charms, thank goodness..."

"You haven't become a ferret yet," George noted to me. "And Dad, why would anyone bother making door keys shrink?"

"Just Muggle baiting," Mr Weasley sighed. "Sell them a key that keeps shrinking to nothing so they can never find it when they need it. Of course it's very hard to convict anyone because no Muggle would admit their key keeps shrinking. They'll insist they just keep losing it. Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring them in the face... but the things our lot have taken to enchanting, you wouldn't believe-"

"LIKE CARS, FOR INSTANCE?" Mrs Weasley asked sharply from the door, making Mr Weasley's eyes jerk open and his face to express guilt.

"C-Cars, Molly, dear?"

"Yes, Arthur, cars. Imagine a wizard buying a rusty old car and telling his wife all he wanted to do was take it apart to see how it worked, while really he was enchanting it to make it fly."

"Well dear, I think you'll find that he would be quite within the law to do that, even if.. er... he maybe would have done better to, um, tell his wife the truth... there's a loophole in the law, you'll find... as long as he wasn't intending to fly the car, the fact the car could fly wouldn't-"

"Arthur Weasley, you made sure there was a loophole when you wrote that law! Just so you could carry on tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in your shed! And for your information, Elizabeth and Harry arrived this morning in the car you weren't intending to fly!"

"Harry who?" Mr Weasley asked, looking around the table. He saw Harry and jumped. "Good lord, is it Harry Potter? So sorry, I didn't suspect it could mean Harry Potter... I didn't even notice Elizabeth Potter was here, she's a redhead and blends in with my children... well she's basically been my child for years now... very pleased to meet you, Harry, Ron's told us so much about you-"

"Your sons flew that car to their house and back last night!" Mrs Weasley said. "What have you got to say about that, eh?"

"Did you really?" Mr Weasley asked excitedly. "Did it go all right? I mean- er.. that was very wrong boys, very wrong indeed..."

I laughed behind my hand as Fred and George both grinned at me.

The rest of the days after this were happy ones. I noticed Harry's mood had improved greatly, and he and I had both begun to gain weight again.

For most of the mornings I spent time with Ginny telling her what to expect from Hogwarts and teaching her how to braid hair in many different ways. Since I'd met Ginny she'd been like a little sister to me, and we'd grown very close over the years since, besides her mother, I was really the only girl she'd ever gotten to interact with.

The afternoons were spent with Fred and George (who still refused to tell me what he'd seen in the mirror) in their room tinkering with objects and causing small explosions while planning various pranks that all seemed worthy of the Slytherins attention.

Nighttime was spent with the entire Weasley family and Harry, sitting around the fire or dinner table telling stories and jokes. A part of me wished the Weasleys would just permanently adopt Harry and I. Even Mr Weasley had said it- he saw me as one of his children, and if I stayed then so would Harry, who was a new brother to the family.

Finally, letters from school arrived, which announced, to Fred, George, and I's dismay, that we'd be needing several Gilderoy Lockhart books for our classes this upcoming term.

"That lot won't come cheap," George said, looking quickly at his parents. "Lockhart's books are really expensive."

"We'll manage," Mrs Weasley said, although she looked worried.

"I bet the new teacher is a witch," I said. "A wizard wouldn't make us buy Lockhart's books."

"I hope she's young and really pretty," Fred said dreamily.

"As if you're going to fancy a teacher!" I hissed. "Get it together!"

"I can fancy a teacher," Fred said.

"That's inappropriate," I said. "Besides, don't you fancy Angelina?"

"Oh yeah," Fred said, a crazy grin on his face. "I do."

George and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.

The day before going to Diagon Alley, we all played Quidditch out on a small paddock up by the hill. We couldn't use real Quidditch balls because they might end up in the village, and we couldn't fly too high, but it was fun nonetheless.

"I wish I knew what Percy was up to," Fred said grimly. "He's not himself. His exam results came the day before you did. Twelve OWLs and he hardly gloated at all."

"Maybe it's the fact that he got only twelve," I said. "Bill got twelve, maybe Percy wanted to get more and was disappointed. He's ambitious, he wants to be the best. He might just be taking it hard because he's not reaching his own goals."

"At this rate he'll be Head Boy next year anyway," George said. "I don't think I could stand the shame."

"He'll be fine eventually," I said.

"I dunno how Mum and Dad are going to afford all our school stuff this year," George said sadly. "Five sets of Lockhart books! And Ginny needs robes and a wand and everything."

"My old robes aren't in bad condition," I said. "I grew out of them really quickly. Ginny can have those. Besides... Harry could get the books and then he and Ron could share while you and Fred share. Then it'd only be three sets of Lockhart books."

"That's not a bad idea," Fred said. "Because George and I do homework together anyway-"

"And so do Ron and I," Harry said.

"Problem solved then," I said. "I'll tell your Mum tomorrow."

"You can start calling her Mum," Ron said. "She practically raised you, too. Ginny would be miserable if you didn't exist, you're practically her sister."

"It feels wrong," I said. "I appreciate everything she's done for me of course, but it... it's difficult. I REMEMBER my mum, and I remember calling her Mum. Well, not Mum, more like Mommy, but still..."

"Ah," Fred said. "Yeah... I get where that might be conflicting."

The next day we went to Diagon Alley, which was a fiasco since the minute we woke up because Fred lost his shoes and then Harry ended up in Knockturn Alley for a solid ten minutes because apparently he doesn't understand the concept of "speaking clearly."

"I'm ready to smack you on the head, Harry," I said as Hagrid dragged him out of Knockturn Alley.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly.

"You could've been kidnapped!" I hissed.

"I'm sorry Beth I won't do it again," Harry insisted.

"You'd better not," I said.

"Aw, lay off him, Beth," Fred said.

"No!" I said. "What's the point of him having to go back to the Dursleys for protection if he's going to prance around Knockturn Alley?"

The twins tried to stop themselves from laughing at how angry I was.

We soon found Lee and Katie, and separated from everyone to go shopping with them, agreeing to meet at the bookstore later.

"So you're back from the dead!" Katie said happily, flinging her arms around me.

"Basically," I said. "Really sorry I didn't write back until so long after you'd sent the letters."

"No worries," Lee said. "When my parents came from work and said you'd been sent a letter for using magic outside of school I knew right away you couldn't have done it!"

"Thanks Lee," I said, smiling as we continued to walk around collecting our supplies.

When we met back at Flourish and Blotts, we found it was crowded with loads of people, and barely managed to find Harry, Ron, and Hermione through the multitude.

"Bloody hell," I said. "Are all schoolbooks free today?"

"No, Lockart's in here," Harry said, trying to push through and find Mr and Mrs Weasley, who were showing Hermione's parents around.

"It can't be, Elizabeth and Harry Potter?"

I whipped around to see Gilderoy Lockhart dive forward, seizing Harry and I uncomfortably by the shoulders and pulling us to the front. I covered my face with my hands, growing anxious as all the photographers nearby snapped their cameras, attempting to get a picture.

Fred, George, Lee, and Katie tried to argue with them, telling them to stop since Harry and I were both uncomfortable, but it amounted to nothing.

I was panicking at this point. I didn't like all the cameras turned in my direction, I didn't like how bright the lights were, I didn't like all the loud voices shouting for me to get my hands out of my face, I didn't want a single bit of attention, I wanted to get away this instant.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Lockhart said loudly, finally releasing Harry and I, "what an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!

"When young Elizabeth and Harry stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, they only wanted to buy my autobiography - which I shall be happy to present to them now, free of charge-"

He shoved a book into Harry and I's hands, and I shoved it back into his hands.

"I don't want it," I said, feeling more and more uncomfortable by the minute.

"Nonsense!" Lockhart laughed. "Now, them and their schoolmates will be in fact, getting the REAL magical me! Yes ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

The crowd cheered, and I grabbed Harry's hand and made a wild dive forward to get away from Lockhart, breathing heavily and holding my head as I staggered to where the Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the twins, Lee, and Katie were waiting for us.

"Beth, are you alright?" Katie asked frantically.

"So bright," I said hoarsely, shaking from head to toe. "So bright... I can't... I didn't... I don't like..."

"Beth!" George said, hoisting me up. "You're okay... you're okay..."

"What's wrong with her?" Harry asked frantically.

"She's overwhelmed by the attention, obviously," a familiar voice said. "Didn't love it as much as you did, Potter."

Draco Malfoy walked up to us, sneering. I struggled to maintain my footing, my eyes still burning and my breathing still unsteady.

"Famous Harry Potter," Malfoy said. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that! Neither of them did!" Ginny said harshly.

"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" Malfoy said. "Four Weasleys in here... I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those books."

"You shut up!" Lee snapped. Ron advanced to Malfoy, but the twins held him back.

"Ron!" Mr Weasley said, coming over. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."

"Well well well, Arthur Weasley."

"Lucius," Mr Weasley said, nodding coldly to Mr Malfoy.

"Busy time at the Ministry I hear," Mr Malfoy said. "I hope they're paying you overtime?"

He reached into Ginny's cauldron, which carried her books, and extracted an old copy of a Transfiguration book.

"Obviously not," he said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of a wizard, Malfoy," Mr Weasley said.

"Clearly," Mr Malfoy said, looking to the Grangers, who were standing behind Mr Weasley and watching apprehensively. "The company you keep Weasley... and I thought your family could sink no lower."

Ginny's cauldron went flying as Mr Weasley threw himself toward Mr Malfoy. The twins and Lee cheered on Mr Weasley as Katie dove forward and pulled me back. I was still shaking.

Hagrid pulled them apart, and the Malfoys left while sneering back at us.

"Beth," Mr Weasley said after he'd wiped his face with a handkerchief, "are you quite alright?"

"No," I said, feeling like it was much too crowded inside the shop.

"Oh good heavens let's get this child away from all these people!" Mrs Weasley said, urging us all outside as I wiped anxious tears from my eyes, hoping there was some way to lose all the fame that was behind the Potter name. I didn't like it one bit.


	12. Chapter 12

Harry and I agree that summer ended much too soon. Which sucks because I'd love to stay at the Burrow for the rest of my life. It's the greatest place on earth, truly.

We had a bit of a late start on the morning of September 1st, and had to run very quickly through the barrier to get on the train.

"Bloody hell it's a wonder we even managed to get on here!" Fred said as he, George, and I worked our way through the train to find our friends. "That must be a new record, boarding at a minute to eleven!"

"I bet Harry and Ron will be boarding right at eleven," I said, sighing loudly as we found Bixby and Batavia waiting for us.

"Elizabeth Potter!" Batavia said. "You've gone and grown- that's not fair!"

"What's not fair?" Bixby asked.

"She's got BREASTS now!" Batavia cried indignantly. "And I haven't! It's not fair Beth, it just isn't!"

"Oh bloody hell please don't mention it," I said, turning scarlet.

"Merciful Merlin you've got CURVES too, and the start of a very fine arse-"

"Batavia!" I hissed as everyone in the compartment roared with laughter.

"I'm jealous, Beth, what can you expect?" She said.

"I don't want these," I said, pointing at my breasts. "You know how annoying it is? I can hardly move around without it bouncing everywhere- I hate it!"

"Feel free to give it all up whenever you'd like!" Batavia shrieked. "I'm a very impatient girl waiting for my very delayed growth spurt!"

"You're not growing anymore," Bixby said. "Hoganson women never grow past 154 centimeters."

"Shut up!" Batavia hissed, although she was grinning.

"How are you and Oliver, Batavia?" I asked with a smirk.

"He came to America with us!" Bixby groaned. "Worst summer of my life! My parents liked him too!"

"Wow, your dad was alright with it all?" Katie asked in disbelief.

"He was!" Batavia said. "Mum adored him!"

"I had to share a room with him!" Bixby whined. "All he talks about is Quidditch!"

We all laughed, no one able to sympathize with Bixby.

"So," Batavia said, "anyone got any exciting news?"

"Well," Lee said, looking at Katie. "She does."

"Katie!" I cried. "Tell us!"

She shook her head and giggled.

"Tell us!" Batavia and I urged.

"She's got a boyfriend!" Lee said, making Batavia and I shriek.

"Who is it?" Batavia asked eagerly.

"Ravenclaw FOURTH year Vance Eldrich!" Katie squealed.

The boys in the compartment all looked uncomfortable as all us girls shrieked and giggled.

"Now's Beth's turn to get a boyfriend!" Katie said.

"I'm good, thanks," I said.

"Ooh!" Batavia said. "We need to get her with someone! Beth, with a body like that boys will begin to ask you out to Hogsmeade-"

Then the realization hit me.

"What's wrong?" Bixby asked.

"Hogsmeade," I mumbled. "I totally forgot about Hogsmeade. My Uncle Vernon didn't sign it."

The compartment was silent.

"Oh Beth," Batavia said. "But there has to be someway-"

"It's alright," I said quickly. "I don't need to go. I'd- I'd rather stay with Harry anyways... you know."

"But Beth-"

"It's fine," I said. "Really it is. That way I don't spend money on unnecessary things and then I have an excuse to turn down everyone who asks me!"

Lee laughed. "Bloody hell you'll be breaking hearts left and right with an attitude like that."

Everyone burst out laughing, except Batavia, who looked cross.

"What?" I demanded.

"You're a teenager now, Beth!" She scolded. "You can't spend all your life avoiding people and keeping to yourself. You have to get out there, go get a boyfriend!"

"I'm good," I said. "I don't need one."

Batavia scowled and then shook her head in disappointment.

When we arrived at Hogwarts, we discovered that Harry and Ron had not been on the train with us. I spent the whole feast very worried because they didn't turn up. When we went back to the Common Room, we found out from some seventh years that Harry and Ron had arrived via the Weasley's flying Ford Anglia and had crashed into the Whomping Willow.

"I can't believe it!" I hissed. "He's gone and put himself in danger again! What even crossed their minds-"

"I'm sure they had a valid reason," Bixby said.

The portrait hole opened and Harry and Ron came in. Lee and the twins were very excited and celebrated their arrival, but Percy came over to me and I found he had the same reaction I did.

"They haven't got any sense," he said.

"I know!" I said. "I don't understand why they thought it was fine- Harry James Potter get OVER here!"

Percy stood awkwardly to the side as I began to reprimand Harry.

"So the barrier closes, so what?" I hissed. "The proper thing is to have waited for Mr and Mrs Weasley to come back out so they could figure things out. Flying a car! Harry you could have been KILLED!"

"I get that, Beth!" Harry said, angrily. "Nothing happened, okay! I'm fine, Ron's fine! We're getting punished enough, can't you just leave me alone?!"

"No I can't!" I cried. "I can't! I care too much about you to just leave you alone! I've seen people DIE, Harry! I saw our mother die, I almost saw YOU die! I don't need you putting yourself in harm's way because if I have to see you dead I don't think I'll be able to handle it! You don't understand what it's like to see that! How do you think I felt, finding out that I'd witnessed a murder? It isn't exactly the greatest feeling, Harry, to lose a loved one! But no, of course, I'll leave you alone, and watch you go try and get yourself killed another way!"

Percy came closer and I swatted his hand away as he tried to comfort me. Tears in my eyes I stormed upstairs, only to be followed by Batavia and Katie, who for the rest of the night, held me as I cried.

________

The next morning, Ron received a Howler in the mail.

"Open it," I said. "You have to. And Harry I expect you to pay attention to whatever is said because it's your fault too."

Harry hung his head and Percy nodded in approval from across the table, which caused Fred to look confused at me and blink three times fast.

" _What's with you and Percy_?"

I concentrated to return a message.

" _We're both cross with them for taking the car."_

Fred nodded. As the Howler opened, we both jumped in our seats.

"-STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU! YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE-"

Ron's face was so pale I was afraid he might faint.

"-LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED-"

I looked at Harry, who did in fact seem to be accepting Mrs Weasley's yells as being directed toward him as well.

"-ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED! YOUR FATHER IS FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME!"

Then there was silence, and the envelope burst into flames and reduced to nothing but ashes.

"Bloody hell," George mumbled. "Don't think I've ever heard a worse Howler."

McGonagall swooped down over us shortly after and passed out our schedules.

"What electives are you lot taking?" Lee asked Bixby, Batavia, Katie, and I.

"Care of Magical Creatures and Divination is all," Bixby said.

"Me too," Batavia said.

"I'm taking Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures," Katie said.

"What about you, Beth?" Fred asked.

"Well now I feel like I overdid it," I said. "I have Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Care of Magical Creatures."

"Three electives?" Fred gasped. "Bloody hell you almost took all four available! You'll die!"

"I think I should be fine," I said, although the worried faces of my friends were no reassurance.

The first class I had that day was Arithmancy, which immediately proved to be a favorite subject of mine.

As it turns out, Defense Against the Dark Arts became my least favorite subject.

Gilderoy Lockhart walked in and bowed, smiling very big at us. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award, but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her."

No one in our class laughed, although Slytherin Timothy Grier did cough.

"Ah, I see you've all bought a complete set of my books," Lockhart said. "Well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about, it's the same quiz for all my classes, just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in. You have thirty minutes. Start. Now!"

Batavia excitedly began to take the quiz, and when I looked down at the first question I very nearly crumpled up the parchment and burned it.

"What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?"

I dunno, puce.

"What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?"

Getting as much attention as possible.

"What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?"

Keeping his teeth whiter than the light people see upon dying, I didn't bloody know!

"When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?"

A very sad day. Toothpaste.

When the thirty minutes finished, he collected our papers and looked through them before the entire class.

"Tut tut, hardly any of you remembered that my favorite color is lilac. I say so in 'Year With the Yeti.' And a few of you need to read 'Wanderings with Werewolves' more carefully- I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non magic peoples... though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogdeds Old Firewhiskey!"

I looked at Bixby and Katie, who were sitting across from me and making annoyed faces. Beside me, Batavia was staring admirably at Lockhart.

"You have a boyfriend," I said.

"When one is at a restaurant they may order from the menu but still keep looking at it!" Batavia said, which made me gag and slam my head on the desk.

According to Lockhart, he'd had a bit of a problem with Cornish Pixies in his earlier class (the second years) and thus we would only be taking textbook notes for the rest of the class, which became a social hour for everyone and a vanity hour for Lockhart.

"I hate him!" I hissed to George in Transfiguration. "He's more of an airhead than Marcus Flint, that Slytherin bloke!"

George stifled a laugh as McGonagall passed by to inspect our progress with transfiguring a pin into a ladybug.

By Friday. I was already back to being annoyed with school, and was praying summer would come quickly.

Saturday morning, I was awakened at the crack of dawn by Batavia.

"What the bloody hell is the matter with you?" I hissed as I turned over in bed and threw the covers over my face.

"Get up, Beth! And you too, Katie!" Batavia said.

"Noo," Katie whined, covering her ears.

"Oliver wants you all down at the field in fifteen minutes!" Batavia said. "We're going to practice extra early this season!"

"Tell your boyfriend he's insane!" I moaned, forcing myself out of bed and pulling Katie's leg.

"Leave me alone!" Katie said.

"Get up unless you want to be replaced," I sighed, rubbing my eyes and searching wildly in my trunk for my Quidditch robes.

Katie and I got dressed quickly as Batavia went to wake Angelina Johnson, who was in the fourth year girls' dormitory.

"Oliver Wood owes me three precious hours of sleep!" Katie said as I quickly braided her hair while we went downstairs.

"Same here," I sighed.

"Beth!"

I turned and saw Harry coming down the boys' staircase.

"Good morning," I said.

"Wood just came to wake me," Harry said, yawning. "Why so early?"

"Oliver Wood is a maniac," I said. "No wonder Batavia loves him..."

Right as Harry, Katie, and I began to exit through the portrait hole, a little first year boy with a very big camera ran up to us.

"Hi Harry!" He said.

"Er- Hi Colin," Harry said.

Colin turned to me and his eyes grew wider than saucers.

"Wow! You're Elizabeth Potter!" He cried. "Can you turn into a leopard?"

"Not right now," I yawned. "Who- Who are you?"

"I'm Colin Creevey!" He said, grabbing my hand and shaking it enthusiastically. "I've heard all about you, can we take a picture?"

"Um no," I said quickly, jumping back. "I'm not comfortable with pictures."

"Oh," Colin said. "Then can I get your autograph?"

"Not right now," I said. "Sorry Colin but we're in a hurry, we've got Quidditch practice-"

"Oh wow, wait for me!" Colin said, scrambling out behind us. "I've never watched a Quidditch game before!"

"It's really boring," Harry said quickly, but Colin didn't appear to have heard.

"You were the youngest House player in a hundred years, weren't you, Harry? Weren't you?" Colin asked, trotting alongside Harry. "You must be brilliant! I've never flown. Is it easy? Is that your own broom? Is that the best one there is?"

Katie looked at me and we both tried to hide our laughter as Harry looked at us desperately, attempting to find a way to get rid of Colin.

"I don't really understand Quidditch," Colin sighed. "Is it true there are four balls? And two of them fly around trying to knock people off their brooms?"

"Yes," Harry said, sounding irritated. "They're called Bludgers. There are two Beaters on each team who carry clubs yo beat the Bludgers away from their side. Fred and George Weasley are the Gryffindor Beaters."

At this, Katie pulled me away.

"What?" I asked.

"I need to ask," Katie said. "I need to. I see the way he looks at you."

"Who, Colin?" I asked.

"No!" Katie said. "George!"

"What do you mean the way he looks at me?" I asked, still confused.

Katie sighed. "Do you fancy George Weasley?"

I looked at Katie and felt my cheeks turn pink. Her eyes widened.

"You do," she gasped. "You fancy him!"

"S-so what if I do?" I said. "I'm not going to try and date him."

"You should!" Katie squealed. "Oh my... I think he fancies you too, Beth!"

"He definitely doesn't," I said. "All the Weasleys see me as their sister. It's not going to happen."

"You don't know that!" Katie said. "Oh Beth... this is great! I'm glad! I always liked the thought of you and George being together."

"Sweet Salazar, Katie, we're not going to be together. I'm too awkward to try and have a boyfriend and-and I don't really think he fancies me."

"Beth!" Katie whined. I ignored her agony and just gave a small laugh as we followed far behind Harry and Colin toward the Quidditch pitch.

"Good morning!" Wood chirped happily as Batavia looked adoringly at him from the bench. "Now I wanted a quick talk with you all before we actually get onto the field because I spent all summer devising a whole new training program, which I really think will make a difference."

I have no idea what Oliver Wood's definition of a 'quick talk' is because he talked for an entire hour as he explained three large diagrams. After the first diagram, Fred had begun to play hangman on spare parchment with Angelina and George had fallen asleep on my shoulder.

Katie kept flashing me looks and I just continued to shut her down by making faces. George couldn't possibly like me.

"So!" Wood said, once he'd finished, which made George shoot up and look around the changing room, confused. "Is that clear? Any questions?"

"I've got a question, Oliver," George yawned. "Why couldn't you have told us all this yesterday when we were awake?"

Wood looked displeased. "Now listen here, you lot. We should have won the Quidditch cup last year. We're easily the best team. But unfortunately... owing to circumstances beyond our control..."

Harry and I had been unconscious in the Hospital Wing the day of the final and thus Gryffindor had to resort to playing with the backup Chaser and no Seeker.

"So this year we train harder than ever before," Wood said. "Okay, let's go and put our new theories into practice!"

He scooped up his broomstick and walked outside, Batavia trotting after him.

"My eyes hurt," George mumbled as he got up.

"I was having such a nice dream before Batavia shook me awake," I said.

"I was having a nice dream right now," George groaned. "There was a-"

I raised an eyebrow and he looked at me, grinning.

"I'm not telling," he said. "It has something to do with what I saw in the mirror, actually."

"You're an arse," I said. "Why can't you just tell me?"

"I like seeing you in agony, not wanting to read my mind, but also dying out of curiosity," George said, which made me smack his shoulder.

As we walked out onto the pitch we heard a strange clicking noise.

"What's that?" Fred asked.

"Him," Harry said, looking up at Colon Creevey, who was sitting in the stands.

"Look this way, Harry and Elizabeth!" Colin said. "Please, Elizabeth!"

"You've got an admirer," George said.

"He fancies you," Fred trilled with a grin, coming to stand on the other side of me.

"Who?" I asker a bit quickly.

"Ah, so you're expecting a certain someone," Fred said, winking at me. "Why don't you tell us who you fancy?"

"Shut up," I said as Wood came over.

"What's going on?" He asked. "Why's that first year taking pictures?"

"He fancies Beth," George said.

"No he doesn't-"

"Well I don't like it," Wood said. "He could be a Slytherin spy, trying to find out about our new training program."

"He's in Gryffindor," Harry said.

"And the Slytherins don't need a spy," George mumbled.

"What makes you say that?" Wood asked.

"Because they're here in person," George said, pointing to the approaching group of Slytherin Quidditch players, sporting their green robes.

"I don't believe it!" Wood hissed. "I booked the field for today! We'll see about this!"

We strode over to the oncoming Slytherins.

"Flint!" Wood shouted. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

Marcus Flint wasn't in the slightest intimidated. Not only was he taller than Wood, but he also looked like a troll.

"Plenty of room for all of us, Wood," he spat.

"But I booked the field!" Wood said furiously. "I booked it!"

"Ah," Flint said, taking out a slip of parchment. "But I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. 'I, Professor S. Snape give the Slytherin team permission to practice today at the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker.'"

"New Seeker?" Wood asked. "Where?"

From behind the tall and ugly Slytherin boys, Draco Malfoy stepped out.

"Of course," Fred said. "Lucius Malfoy's son."

"Funny you should mention Draco's father," Flint said with a malicious smile. "Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team."

Every member of the team held out their broomsticks, revealing them to be brand spanking new Nimbus 2001's.

"Very latest model, only came out last month," Flint said. "I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps... it sweeps the board with them."

He looked over at the twins' and I's brooms as he said that. We all had Cleansweeps.

"Oh look, a field invasion," Flint said as Ron and Hermione walked over to see what was going on.

"What's happening?" Ron asked. "Why aren't you playing? And what's HE doing here?"

Draco Malfoy sneered gleefully.

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," Malfoy said. "Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father bought for our team. Perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives. I expect a museum would bid for them."

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," Hermione snapped. "They got in on pure talent."

The smug expression on Draco's face disappeared. "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood."

Flint had to dive in front of Malfoy to stop Fred, George, and I from jumping at him. Batavia leapt forward and held me back as I began to snarl curses at Malfoy, and Angelina joined me in yelling obscenities.

"You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" Ron said, taking out his still very broken wand.

A loud bang sent Ron flying backwards. Harry and Hermione immediately went to attend him. When Ron began vomiting slugs, they hurriedly led him away.

At this rate the Slytherin team was roaring with laughter. When Flint had moved away from Malfoy, I moved forward and seized Draco Malfoy by the collar.

"Are you hurt because she pointed out that you're so incompetent that the only way you got onto the team was by having your daddy buy your way in?" I spat. "Go ahead, Malfoy, live a lie, pretend you're actually good at Quidditch! But one day, money won't get you all you want, and you'll have to face the fact that you're a foul, stupid, ugly, and repulsive RAT!"

With that, I slapped him so hard that a scarlet mark became vibrant on Malfoy's pale face.

He stepped back indignantly, staring at me in disgust as the Gryffindors roared with laughter.

Then he came forward, and came very close to me, sneering in my face, which was painful for me because my neck was craned so far back to look at him.

"When I want you to state your worthless opinion you filthy blood traitor, I'll ask for it," Malfoy said in a dangerous voice. "Clearly it was a mistake for You Know Who to let you live in the first place. I think we'd all be better off if you'd died like your Mudblood mother!"

He shoved me back, and George leapt forward, punching Draco hard in the face.

"Don't you DARE talk to her like that!" He snarled as Malfoy staggered back and was shielded by Flint and Cassius Warrington.

Flint urged the Slytherins to leave as I breathed heavily, my fists balled up so much that I felt blood in the palms of my hand.


	13. Chapter 13

Harry convinced me a to attend Sir Nicholas's (the ghost) Deathday Party instead of the Halloween Feast. I was right not to expect my friends to fight over who got to come with me, and was not surprised when Bixby volunteered right away.

"This is exciting, isn't it?" He said happily. "Hanging out with ghosts."

"Bixby you're a little too excited about this," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Eh, maybe," he said. "But still! I've never been to one of these."

"Us neither," Harry said. "Nick really wants me there though, and I'd like to go, for him."

"How sweet," I said.

Harry made a face, and Ron and Hermione grinned.

The pathway to the party was decorated with candles and I suppose the intended effect was to add a spark of cheerfulness but that did not work. For one, the candles were long, thin, jet black, and gave off an ominous blue light. Second, they were spaced out so much the corridor was still very dark. Third, it seemed to be getting colder as we walked past each candle.

"I'm not liking this as much anymore," Bixby said.

"Hmm," I said with a small smile as we turned the corner and found ourselves at the entrance of a large chamber with the sound of what I'm sure was fingernails scraping against an enormous blackboard emitting from it.

I hissed and forced myself not to cover my ears as the sound persisted.

"Please don't tell me that's supposed to be music," I whispered as Nearly Headless Nick came to greet us.

"My dear friends," he said. "Welcome, welcome, so pleased you could come..."

The inside of the chamber was filled with what must've been hundreds of ghosts, drifting across the dance floor and waltzing to the dreadful music of several saws played by a ghostly orchestra.

"It's freezing in here," Hermione squeaked as a ghost drifted aimlessly past us and huffed loudly.

"Shall we have a look around?" Harry suggested. "Warm up our feet..."

"Yes, let's," I said, rubbing my arms.

"Just be careful not to walk through anyone," Ron mumbled as Bixby quite nearly collided with the Fat Friar.

"This is so creepy," he mumbled. "It just makes me think... every year we pass the day of our death."

"Makes me wonder," I agreed, "when I'm going to die. What day, how far in the future."

"Oh no!" Hermione said suddenly. "Turn back, turn back now... I don't want to talk to Moaning Myrtle..."

"Who?" Harry asked as we went back the way we'd come.

"She haunts one of the toilets in the girls' bathroom on the first floor," I said.

"It's been out of order all year because she keeps having tantrums and flooding the place," Hermione added. "I never went in there anyway if I could avoid it. It's awful trying to have a pee with her wailing at you."

"You've just got to be civil to her," I said. "She deals with a lot of rudeness from other girls."

Hermione made a face.

"Look, food!" Ron said.

He was pointing toward a large table with what did appear to be a feast. But as we got closer a putrid smell filled our noses.

"Rotten fish," I groaned. "Burned cakes. Maggoty haggis... rotten cheese... oh that is disgusting."

"We need to move before we get sick," Bixby said, urging us away from the table.

We'd barely taken a few steps forward when Peeves swooped up from under the table and joined our side.

"Hey Peeves," I said.

"Hello Beth, Bixby," Peeves said happily. "Nibbles?"

The tray he shoved in Bixby's face had a bowl of peanuts covered in fungus.

"Not right now," I said calmly. "How are you, Peeves?"

"Missing our adventures," he said solemnly. "I remember when you were ickle firsties you'd get into all sorts of trouble with Misters Fred and George. Not so much anymore...."

"We have pranks planned," I said. "Just need to make time to set them up."

"Ha!" Peeves said. "Naughty naughty, I like it. Now... I heard Miss Granger talking about poor Myrtle. SHE was quite rude about poor Myrtle." He turned in Myrtle's direction and bellowed "OY! MYRTLE!"

"Oh no Peeves! Don't tell her what I said, she'll be really upset!" Hermione said frantically. "I didn't mean it... I don't mind her... oh, hello Myrtle."

"What?" Myrtle asked sadly as she glided over. She turned to me and gave me a faint smile. "Hello, Beth."

"Hi Myrtle," I said. "Very nice to see you out and about."

She sniffed and nodded. Peeves floated to stand beside her and began to whisper in her ear "Miss Granger was just talking about you. Just saying-"

"Just saying how nice you look tonight," Hermione said quickly, glaring daggers at Peeves.

"You're making fun of me," Myrtle said stiffly.

"No honestly!" Hermione said in desperation, nudging Harry and Ron painfully in the ribs. "Didn't I just say how nice Myrtle's looking?"

"Oh yeah," Harry said.

"She did," Ron said. I winced.

"Don't lie to me," Myrtle snapped, tears bouncing out of her eyes and onto the floor as Peeves cackled beside her. "D'you think I don't know what people call me behind my back? Fat Myrtle! Ugly Myrtle! Miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle!"

"You've forgotten pimply," Peeves hissed maliciously.

Myrtle burst into more tears and fled from the chamber all while Peeves followed close behind yelling "Pimply! Pimply!"

"He's awful," Hermione said.

"How come Peeves likes you and Bixby so much?" Ron asked.

"Ah we let him help with pranks," Bixby said. "Give him ideas. Haven't in awhile, so he's getting restless."

Sir Nicholas drifted toward us at that very moment.

"Enjoying yourselves?" He asked dully.

"Oh yes," we all lied.

"Not a bad turnout," Sir Nicholas said. "The Wailing Widow came all the way up from Kent. Ah, it's nearly time for my speech. I'd better go and warn the orchestra..."

However, the orchestra stopped playing right then and there and hunting horns began to sound. Immediately after, several headless horsemen rode straight onto the dance floor. When they'd dismounted, one of the ghosts came over, holding his head high in the air, and laughed.

"Nick!" He roared gleefully. "How are you? Head still hanging in there?"

He guffawed loudly and capped Nick on the shoulder. He put his head on and it smirked, which made me dislike him right away

"Welcome, Patrick," Nick said stiffly.

"Live 'uns!" Patrick said, seeing us. He gave a fake jump out of surprise and his head fell off.

"Wow, a ghost who is an arse!" I said, leaping back and pretending my head came off too.

Sir Nick looked very grateful. Sir Patrick looked very offended, and gritted his teeth.

"Defending Nick, then," he said. "Of course, he's still upset we won't let him join the Hunt. But I mean to say... look at the fellow."

"Have you ever read the law?" I said, coming up with a smooth lie.

"The law, girl?" Sir Patrick asked.

"Anyone whose head had been severed more than thirty centimeters is considered headless," I said. "But of course... you wouldn't know that...."

Sir Patrick looked at me indignantly as the rest of the ghosts became amused at what was happening.

"Well then. I- well- er," Sir Patrick stammered.

"Consider it," I said icily, flashing him a cheeky grin. Sir Nick blew me a kiss and moved to the center to give his speech.

"That was wicked!" Bixby said, clapping me on the back as Sir Patrick left to rejoin the others. "It was a complete lie but the delivery made me quite nearly believe it!"

"Why thank you," I said, grinning.

"You're getting into a lot of fights lately, aren't you?" Bixby said. "First Malfoy now a bloody ghost..."

"I guess I'm just tired of people treating my friends like crap," I said, which made Ron smile gratefully.

"I think it's time for us to go," Harry said as the ghost clapped at the end of Nick's speech and began playing another ghostly tune.

"Pudding might not be finished yet!" Ron said as we exited and began heading toward the entrance hall.

Suddenly Harry tensed up.

"Harry?" I asked.

Harry stumbled toward the wall and pressed his ear to it, listening eagerly.

"Harry what are you-?"

"It's that voice again, Ron and Hermione," Harry mumbled. "Shut up a minute..."

I looked fearfully at Harry's friends.

"He heard a voice when he was in detention with Lockhart," Hermione said.

"Listen!" Harry said, slapping the wall and leaning so close to it I was unsure whether he had an ounce of sanity within him.

He gripped the wall, then moved away from it and began run up the stairs.

"Harry!" I cried.

"This way!" He shouted.

Bixby and I looked at each other and reluctantly sprinted behind him. Past the entrance hall, up the marble staircase, to another corridor.

"Harry, what're we-"

"SHH!"

"Don't you shush me!" I snarled as Harry kept running down another corridor.

"It's going to kill someone!" He yelled, making Ron and Hermione go pale. I fought the urge to summon Harry into my arms and run the other way and instead kept running.

"Harry, what is this all about?" Ron demanded as Harry came to a sudden halt, looking down one corridor.

"I don't hear anything, mate," Bixby said. "What's going on?"

I staggered to where Harry was and looked where he was looking, letting out a strangled gasp that made Hermione, Ron, and Bixby run to see what we were looking at.

We walked slowly toward the wall, seeing that an enormous message had been written on it.

"THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE."

"Great Godric!" I screamed, stepping back and bumping into Bixby as I realized that Mrs Norris, Filch's cat, was the object hanging from the torch bracket under the message. Her eyes were wide open and staring, her body stiff as stone.

"Let's get out of here!" Ron said.

"We should try and help!" Harry said.

"Trust me," Bixby said frantically, "we don't want to be found here."

But it was too late to consider that, because everyone in the Great Hall seemed to have heard my scream and come running to see. People filled the corridor, staring at Mrs Norris and the message in horror. It was dead silent, until a familiar voice spoke.

"Enemies of the Heir, beware!" Draco Malfoy said gleefully. "You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

Filch dove to the front of the crowd, and looked with terror at Mrs Norris.

Filch gave a strangled gasp. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs Norris?!"

He looked at Harry and lunged at him, only not succeeding in grabbing him because I dove between them.

"You!" Filch wailed to my brother. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll-"

"Argus!"

Dumbledore arrived, several teachers trailing behind him. He came forward and detached Mrs Norris from the torch bracket.

"Come with me Argus," Dumbledore said. "You too, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Mr Hoganson, Miss Granger, Miss Potter."

Lockhart stepped to the front. "My office is nearest, Headmaster! Just upstairs, please feel free-"

"Thank you, Gilderoy," Dumbledore said. He led us through the crowd, who were all gaping at us. Batavia and Oliver were staring, dumbstruck at us, while Fred, George, Lee, and Katie tried to come with us, but were stopped by McGonagall.

I wrapped a protective arm around Harry as Filch shot him another nasty look, which basically lasted all the way until we arrived at Lockhart's office.

Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Lockhart all observed the cat closely, all unsure of what to say. Dumbledore seemed deep in thought, McGonagall horrified, and Snape as though he was trying not to smile, which was the most sadistic thing I'd seen up to date.

"It was definitely a curse that killed her," Lockhart piped up. "Probably the Transmogrifian Torture. I've seen it used many times, so unlucky I wasn't there, I know the very countercurse that would have saved her..."

At this, Filch let out a loud wail and slumped into a chair, covering his face with his filthy hands.

"I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadogou," Lockhart continued. "A series of attacks, the full story's in my autobiography. I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets, which cleared the matter up at once..."

Dumbledore mumbled something and tapped Mrs Norris with his wand, then straightened up.

"She's not dead, Argus," he announced.

"Not dead?" Filch asked. "But why's she all- all stiff and frozen?"

"She's been Petrified," Dumbledore said. "But how, I cannot say..."

"Ask HIM!" Filch said angrily, pointing to Harry.

"No second year could have done this," Dumbledore said. "It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced-"

"He did it, he did it!" Filch spat. "You saw what he wrote on the wall!"

"It wasn't him!" I said.

"Rubbish!" Filch snarled. "And you must've helped him! Yes... you're a very powerful witch you could have done this!"

"Of course I didn't!" I snapped. "I have nothing against you or Mrs Norris-"

"If I might speak, Headmaster," Snape said suddenly. "Both Potters and their friends might have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why were they in the upstairs corridor at all? Why weren't they all at the Halloween feast?"

We all began to speak at once.

"Silence!" Snape said. "Miss Potter, the truth."

"Sir Nicholas invited us to his deathday party," I said quickly. "Ask any of the ghosts, they saw us there- ask Sir Patrick of the Headless Hunt especially, I argued with him!"

"Why didn't you join the feast afterward?" Snape asked suspiciously. "Why go up to that corridor?"

Harry looked fearfully at me and I took a deep breath.

"Everyone wanted to but I didn't," I said. "I um.. I thought I heard something and insisted we go check it out before going to eat and.. we found the scene."

"You heard something?" Snape asked. "From the dungeons where you were you HEARD something?"

"I have excellent hearing," I said. "Kind of comes with being able to transform into any creature."

Snape didn't seem thoroughly convinced, and neither did Filch.

"My cat has been Petrified!" Filch shrieked. "I want to see some punishment!"

"We will be able to cure her, Argus," Dumbledore said. "Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs Norris."

"I'll make it!" Lockhart said eagerly. "I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep-"

"Excuse me," Snape said coldly, "but I believe I am the Potions master at this school."

Lockhart closed his mouth abruptly, and I had to force myself not to smirk.

"You may all go," Dumbledore said to us.

Bixby urged us quickly out of the classroom, and went quickly up an entire floor before agreeing to talk about the ordeal in an empty classroom.

"Thanks for saving me," Harry said to me. "D'you think I should have told them about that voice I heard?"

"No," Ron said. "Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world."

"You didn't hear it, Beth?" Harry asked. "If that was some sort of creature speaking couldn't you have-?"

"I only said that to justify the fact that we went to investigate something that made noise," I said. "Say a dog is barking in front of us and I'm in human form... I can't understand what it's saying. I have to become a dog to understand.. and also hear as well as a dog. In human form I have normal hearing."

"Oh," Harry said, a bit disappointed. "It's just.. this is so weird. What was that writing on the wall about? The Chamber Has Been Opened... what's that supposed to mean?"

"It could be talking about the Chamber of Secrets," Bixby said, which made us all whip around to listen to him. "My grandfather told me about it... it was supposedly opened when he was in school, and someone died. Apparently Salazar Slytherin built it and hid some monster in it... Batavia knows the story better than I do though, you're better off asking her."

A clock chimed, which made us all jump.

"We'll ask her," Harry said. "But it... it's midnight. We'd better get to bed before Snape comes and tried to frame us for something else."

We all nodded and headed to Gryffindor tower fast as our feet would carry us.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron went upstairs immediately, but the rest of our gang stopped Bixby and I.

"What the bloody hell happened?" Lee asked.

Bixby and I told them quickly, which left them all to stare at us, dumbfounded.

"If that's the real Chamber of Secrets," Batavia said, "then this.. this is bad."

"I know," I said. "But who even would be wanting to do something like this?"

"Someone who's downright evil," Fred said.

"And hates Muggleborns," George said.

We all looked at each other, our eyes narrowed.

"Malfoy."

We all jumped, seeing Harry, Hermione, and Ron had come downstairs.

"Bloody hell, don't do that," I said.

"It makes sense," Ron said. "You heard him. 'You'll be next, Mudbloods!' Come on, who even says that unless-"

"It makes sense," Batavia said. "He could be the Heir of Slytherin."

"The what?" Harry asked.

"The Heir of Slytherin," Batavia said. "Someone who is descended from Salazar Slytherin himself and has the power to open the Chamber. I bet now that everyone thinks Harry did this thanks to Filch's wailing will be calling HIM the Heir of Slytherin. People will figure out soon enough that this has to do with the Chamber of Secrets."

"That isn't too difficult to believe," Fred said. "His whole family's been in Slytherin."

"And they all boast about it," George added. "They could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough."

"They could've had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries!" Bixby said. "Handing it down, father to son-"

"-since Salazar Slytherin himself," Batavia said, which made us all nod.

"I suppose that is possible," Katie said.

"But how would you prove something like that?" Lee asked.

"There might be a way," Hermione said suddenly. "Of course it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect. What we'd need to do is to get inside Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy a few questions without him realizing it's us."

"Yeah, Beth could just morph into one of his goons," Fred said.

"That is out of the question," I said. "I'm not going to do that. Besides, it would take a lot of strength and it wouldn't last as long as-"

I suddenly looked at Hermione, and she grinned, thinking along the same lines as me.

"What?" George demanded.

"Polyjuice Potion," Hermione and I said.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"It's a difficult potion to make," I said. "It transforms you into somebody else... it's like me morphing into another human."

"We could change into three of the Slytherins," Hermione said. "No one would know it was us. Malfoy would probably tell us anything. He's probably boasting about it in the Slytherin Common Room right now, if only we could hear him."

"That's dangerous though," Ron said. "Beth could just read his mind, couldn't she?"

"He'd have to be thinking of exactly that," I said. "In the moment I read it. I've tried to go deeper, see other thoughts, but I can't. I'm only able to read people's thoughts in that instant."

"Damn it," Ron said. "But... Polyjuice Potion sounds so dodgy. What if we were stuck looking like three of the Slytherins forever?"

"It wears off after awhile," I said. "And even then I could brew something to change you back. The difficult part here is getting the ingredients."

"So it's decided then?" Harry said.

"What's decided?" Ron asked.

"Beth is brewing the Potion," Hermione chirped.

"Hey I didn't say-"

"Beth," Harry said. "You're in a higher level of Potions than you're supposed to be. You're the best Potioneer out of all of us."

Everyone nodded their approval and I scowed.

"Fine," I said. "But then that means that YOU will be finding me the ingredients AND a place to brew it."

"The place we can find later. Snape said the recipe is in a book called Moste Potente Potions and it's bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library," Hermione said. "We'd be needing a signed note from a teacher."

"Beth could easily convince Snape himself to give her a note," Fred said.

"He'd do it in a heartbeat," George said.

"It's too risky to ask Snape," I said. "He'd be wanting to know what I needed it for, and if when we take the ingredients he notices what exactly is missing, he'll know right away that a Polyjuice Potion is being made."

"Oh come on he couldn't tell from a few missing ingredients, could he?" Lee asked.

"Yes he could," Katie said. "He's very specific with how much of everything he has in his supply closet, I heard him telling McGonagall he needed exactly seventy three and five eigths of Bulbadox Powder once!"

"Who do we ask then?" Ron asked. "What teacher is thick enough to fall for us being interested in a Potions book?"

Bixby, Katie, and I looked at each other and grinned madly.

"Who are you thinking of?" Batavia inquired.

"That witless teacher you fancy," Bixby piped up.

"No! Not-?"

"Lockhart," I said, grinning mischievously.


	14. Chapter 14

"We did it!" Hermione shrieked one day at lunch, running right to me and making me drop my spoon back in my bowl of soup.

"How much of a hard time did Pince give you?" I asked.

"Not that bad," Hermione said. "She must've thought Lockhart's signature was fake at first, because she held it up to the light and everything, but eventually she went and got the book for us! It's in the bathroom now with Harry and Ron-"

"In the what?"

"The bathroom!" Hermione said. "Myrtle's bathroom. We figured we could brew the potion there."

"Let me get this straight," I said. "You went and left a Potions book in a bathroom."

"Yes but it's not touching the floor or anything," Hermione said. "Please come with us!"

I shrugged and took one last sip of my soup.

Bixby, Batavia, and Katie immediately opted out of accompanying us since they didn't fancy hanging out with Moaning Myrtle. Lee doubted he had Potions skills at all. Fred and George grinned mischievously though, and got right up to follow Hermione to the first floor girls bathroom.

"They're here!" Hermione chirped happily to Harry and Ron as she threw open the door.

"Nice," Harry said. "Listen we've been reading the recipe and..."

I sighed and sat down beside them on the floor. Harry handed me the book and I looked through it.

"This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen," I said, pursing my lips. "Let's see... lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass. That we can get from the student store cupboard... but horn of bicorn, shredded skin of boomslang... that might mean raiding Snape's supply cabinet which of course is up to you."

Hermione nodded.

"The final thing is a bit of whoever you'll be changing into," I said. "It's settled then, that Harry, Ron, and Hermione are the only ones turning into Slytherins?"

"Yes," Fred and George said together.

"Wait a minute," Ron said. "What do you mean by a but of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it-"

"It doesn't have to be his toenails," I said, rolling my eyes. "Besides, that's the last thing we need to worry about. What we need to worry about it stealing all the boomslang and bicorn."

"Yeah Hermione this might not be such a good idea," Harry said, which Ron nodded to.

"I'm not chickening out," Hermione said. "I don't want to break rules but I think we need to do it. I want to find out if it's Malfoy, and Beth is already brewing the potion, which means the least we can do is get the supplies for her."

"Never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break the rules," Ron said. "But all right. How long will it take to make, anyway?"

"Hmm," I said. "The fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have to be stewed for twenty one days. I'd say we're looking at a month of preparing this potion."

"A month?" Harry demanded. "Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle borns in the school by then!"

"If you've got a better plan, then share it," Fred said. "I'm confused as hell right now but it doesn't seem like we've got another option. Hermione, if you're alright with it, George and I will help you steal the supplies."

"Okay," Hermione said. "Now let's get food and try and rest before tomorrow... you've all got a game to win."

________

The next morning I woke up earlier than both Katie and Batavia and had an early breakfast as well, in the company of Fred and George.

"How do you reckon we're going to do today?" George asked, looking closely at the bread in my hands.

"I think we'll do good," I said. "Do er- do you want some of the bread?"

George quickly shook his head and looked away.

"He's trying really hard not to look at your breasts," Fred said.

"That's ridiculous, George wouldn't do that," I said, which made George crack a small smile.

Awhile after, the rest of the team joined us, and then we left to the changing room for Wood's usual pep talk.

"Slytherin has better brooms than us," Wood said immediately. "No point denying it. But we've got better people on out broom. We've trained harder than they have, we've been flying in all weathers-"

"Too true," George whispered in my ear. "I haven't been properly dry since August."

I smirked, and caught Katie looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"-and we're going to make them rue the day they let that little bit of slime, Malfoy, buy his way into their team," Wood finished. Then he turned to Harry. "It'll be down to you, Harry, to show them that a Seeker has to have something more than a rich father. Get to that Snitch before Malfoy or die trying, Harry, because we've got to win today. We've got to."

"So no pressure, Harry," Fred piped up as the team began to exit onto the field.

Harry came to me, looking worried. "Beth, didn't we HAVE a rich father?"

"Yep," I said. "Dad was filthy rich thanks to grandfather Fleamont inventing that... hair thing. No sweat though, you'll be fine."

Harry gulped and nodded, exiting before he could doubt himself more.

"He'll be fine," George said, making me jump since I didn't know he was still next to me.

"Yeah, he will be," I said, feeling my cheeks turn pink as George flashed me a smile, which, if I might mention, is very nice.

"On my whistle!" Madam Hooch said as we positioned ourselves. I was directly in front of Adrian Pucey.

"Ready to lose, sweetheart?" He asked icily.

"I could ask you the same thing, dung breath," I sneered, making him smirk.

The whistle blew, and I shot up, catching the Quaffle right in front of Pucey's face and soaring forward toward the goal.

I passed it to Katie, who threw it right back at me. I dove under Marcus Flint, and threw the Quaffle right through center hoop.

"GRYFFINDOR SCORE!" Lee bellowed into the microphone. "Excellent goal by Chaser Potter, ten nil, Gryffindor!"

"Not so confident now, are you Pucey?" I asked, making Pucey flash me a very un-Slytherin-like grin.

As the Quaffle went from Flint to Pucey, I noticed that across the field there was something very, very wrong.

George whacked the Bludger towards Pucey, but in midair it changed direction and pelted toward Harry, who barely avoided it. George dove in front of it and hit it to Malfoy instead, but again the Bludger refused to go in that direction and began pursuing Harry.

I didn't have time to focus on that though, because the Quaffle came back to me and I swerved my broom wildly to send me back towards the Slytherin goalposts, dodging the Bludger that wasn't acting so strange.

After this, it seemed the superiority of the Slytherin brooms began to show, and as I flew close to the ground to avoid the Slytherin Beater, Flint dove in front of me and I was thrown to the ground, causing the Quaffle to land into his waiting arms.

Cursing, I dusted myself off and got back onto the broom as heavy raindrops began to fall.

"-Slytherin leading, sixty-ten-"

It seemed like now, the only hope of us winning rested on Harry catching the Snitch, although that didn't seem likely to be able to happen soon because the Weasley twins had been unsuccessful in getting that rouge Bludger away from him.

Then a miracle happened, Pucey dropped the Quaffle and I caught it, swerving madly to the other side of the pitch. When I scored, it seemed that the match intensified.

From there, I could no longer pay attention to what was happening to Harry, because Katie, Angelina, and I were flying at insane speeds, succeeding at tying with Slytherins.

I was just about to score another goal, which would've landed us ten points ahead, when a Bludger came and hit me on the head, which made the Slytherin Keeper catch the Quaffle and toss it back into the game.

Then the whistle was blown, and I saw Wood motioning for us all to huddle up during a time out.

"What is going on?" Wood demanded. "Fred, George, where were you just now that the Bludger stopped Beth from scoring?"

"We were twenty feet above her, stopping the other Bludger from murdering Harry, Oliver," George said angrily.

"Harry can fly away from it!" Wood spat. "You don't pick favorites when defending your teammates from Bludgers!"

"It's not that we don't want to cover her," George snapped, "someone's just gone and fixed that Bludger- it won't leave Harry alone! It hasn't gone for anyone else all game! The Slytherins must have done something to it!"

"But the Bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office since our last practice, and there was nothing wrong with them then," Wood said, wringing his hands anxiously.

"Listen," Harry said, "with the twins flying around me all the time the only way I'm going to catch the Snitch is if it flies up my sleeve. Go back to the rest of the team and let me deal with the rogue one."

"Don't be thick," Fred said. "It'll take your head off!"

"Oliver this is insane," I said. "We need to ask for an inquiry, I've been watching that Bludger all game, we can't let Fred and George tire themselves out hitting it and we can't let Harry deal with it on his own. He'll be killed!"

Harry turned angrily to me. "If we stop now, we'll have to forfeit the match! And we're not losing to Slytherin just because of a crazy Bludger! Come on, Oliver, tell them to leave me alone- and Beth- stop trying to protect me all the time!"

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to do that?" I snapped. "You'll be killed!"

"This is all your fault," George said furiously to Wood. "'Get the Snitch or die trying' what a stupid thing to tell him-"

"Ready to resume play?" Madam Hooch asked from behind me, making me jump.

Wood looked at all of us.

"All right," he said. "Fred, George... you heard Harry. Leave him alone and let him deal with the Bludger on his own."

"No!" I cried, but George pushed me back before I could smack Oliver.

"He's an idiot," George said. "He's not going to listen."

"This is so stupid!" I cried. "Harry'll be murdered!"

The whistle blew and we were forced to keep playing as the rain poured down on us. I was worried sick about Harry, who, after being in the game for less than ten minutes, had suddenly been hit in the elbow by the Bludger.

As I tried wildly to score and also check on my brother, I saw the rouge Bludger had suddenly chosen a new target: me.

Harry was now trying to catch the Snitch with a broken arm, and I was attempting to score while dodging the stupid Bludger.

I caught a glimpse of Harry catching the Snitch and crashing to the floor, and was about to fly down to congratulate him, when the Bludger slammed into the side of my head and sent me toppling off my broom.

My vision blurred as I flew down to the ground, several feet below. I expected to land with an astounding crash, but instead, strong arms wrapped around me and caught me before I could hit the ground.

"Harry," I croaked, waving my arms wildly. "Where's Harry?"

"He's down here," George's voice said as he flew me down to where Harry was. He landed, and I jumped out of his arms to where Harry lay unconscious, clutching my head with one of my arms.

"Harry," I groaned, touching his face. "Harry, wake up..."

Then someone pushed me forcefully out of the way, and I looked to see Lockhart was talking to Harry.

George rushed over to me and helped me up, making me moan painfully as everything spun.

From there, Fred helped Harry to the Hospital Wing as George carried me, both of us too dizzy to make it without help.

As it turned out, the incompetent fool Lockhart had removed all the bones from Harry's arm, which was nothing more than a testimony of why I despised him so much.

"You should have been brought straight to me!" Madam Pomfrey shrieked angrily as she began to force Harry to drink a bottle of SkeleGro. "This will be painful, Mr Potter, and you'll be needing to spend the night! As for you, Miss Potter, you are very lucky Lockhart did not try and fix your concussion!"

"Mhm," I said weakly, seeing many Freds and Georges and Rons and Hermiones around my bed.

"How can you stick up for Lockhart, Hermione?" Ron demanded. "If Harry had wanted deboning he would have asked."

"Anyone can make a mistake!" Hermione said dismissively as Madam Pomfrey fed me another potion. "And it doesn't hurt anymore, does it, Harry?"

"No," Harry said. "But it doesn't do anything else either."

For the effect, he flopped his arm.

I giggled, and everyone stared at me.

"That's funny," I said. "It was funny how you caught the Snitch right next to Malfoy's face."

"That was funny," Fred said. "You er- you alright, Beth?"

"She's just reacting to the potion I gave her," Madam Pomfrey said. "Reckon she'll be mighty happy right about now."

"Hmm," I trilled. "Wow, I fancy becoming a dog right now."

"No transformations for you!" Madam Pomfrey said sharply. "You'll be killed if you do!"

I looked at her with wide eyes, which I suppose was funny for everyone else because they burst out laughing.

I scrunched up my nose and stuck my tongue out. "That potion tasted bad. The Polyjuice will taste worse. Woooo are we in for a treat..."

Then my eyes rolled to the back of my head and I fell asleep, but only for awhile, because next thing I knew I had a house elf sitting on my chest.

"Dobby!" I shrieked, making the elf jump off me and causing Harry to wake up.

"Harry and Elizabeth Potter have come back to school!" Dobby trilled. "Dobby warned and warned both Harry and Elizabeth Potter! Ah sir and moss, why didn't you heed Dobby? Why didn't Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?"

I stared wildly at Harry.

"How did you know I missed the train?" He asked suspiciously.

Dobby looked very guilty.

"It was you!" Harry hissed. "You stopped the barrier from letting me through!"

"Indeed yes, sir," Dobby squeaked. "Dobby hid and watched for Harty Potter and sealed the gateway and Dobby had to iron his hands afterward, but Dobby didn't care, sir, for he thought Harry Potter was safe, and Dobby thought Elizabeth Potter would go back for her brother! Never did Dobby dream that Harry Potter would get to school another way!

"Dobby was so shocked when he heard Harry Potter was back at Hogwarts, he let his master's dinner burn! Such a flogging Dobby never had, sir!"

"You nearly got Ron and me expelled!" Harry said fiercely. "You'd better get lost before my bones come back, Dobby, or I might strangle you."

"Dobby," I said, cutting Harry off, "what are you here for- and why are you still wearing that rag?"

"Tis mark of a house elf's enslavement, miss," Dobby said. "Dobby can only be freed if his masters present him with clothes, miss. The family is careful not to pass Dobby even a sock, for, for then he would be free to leave their house forever."

Then Dobby's eyes widened more than I thought was possible. "Harry and Elizabeth Potter must go home! Dobby thought his Bludger would be enough to make-"

"Your Bludger!" I snapped. "You mean you made that Bludger nearly KILL my brother?"

"Not kill, miss, never kill either of you!" Dobby cried, cowering. "Dobby wanted to save Harry and Elizabeth Potter's lives! Better sent home, grievously injured, than remain here, sir and miss! Dobby only wanted Harry and Elizabeth Potter hurt enough to be sent home!"

"Do you realize how maimed we'd have to be?" I snarled. "We'd have to be paralyzed, or chopped in pieces, because the Dursleys wouldn't just take us back! Why would you even want to do that to us?"

"Ah, if Elizabeth and Harry Potter only knew!" Dobby said. "If they knew what they means to us, to the lowly, the enslaves, we dregs of the magical world! Dobby remembers how it was when He Who Must Not Be Named was at the height of his powers, sir and miss! We house elves were treated like vermin, sir and miss! Of course, Dobby is still treated like that, but mostly, life has improved for my kind since Harry Potter triumphed over He Who Must Not Be Named! Harry Potter survived and the Dark Lord's power was broken, and it was a new dawn, sir, and Harry Potter shone like a beacon of hope for those of us who thought the Dark days would never end, sir! And when those of us heard the great power Elizabeth Potter had, we had more hope, miss! At Hogwarts, terrible things are to happen, are perhaps happening already, and Dobby cannot let Harry and Elizabeth Potter stay here now that history is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets it open once more!"

At this, he began to hit himself over the head forcefully with the water jug beside Harry's bed.

"Dobby stop!" Harry demanded.

"Tell us what you mean, please!" I implored.

"Ah, miss, ask no more of poor Dobby!" He wailed. "Dark deeds are planned in this place, but Harry and Elizabeth Potter must not be here when they happen- go home, Harry and Elizabeth Potter, go home! Harry and Elizabeth Potter must not meddle in this sir, tis too dangerous!"

"Who is it, Dobby?" Harry asked, trying to get the water jug away from Dobby. "Who opened the Chamber now? Who opened it last time?"

"Dobby can't, sir, Dobby can't, Dobby mustn't tell!"

Harry reached wildly for the water jug, and as Dobby swung it to get it away from him, he hit me on the head.

Before blacking out again, I heard Dobby tell Harry frantically "go home!"

________

When I woke up, I found that several flowers and cards had been placed by my bedside.

Harry was gone, which made me assume that I'd either passed out for longer than a day, or had just slept in like I did every Sunday morning.

I looked through the cards and began tearing them open, one by one.

"I hope you get better! Also, George was REALLY angry at Wood last night and almost FOUGHT him. I'm telling you, he fancies you! Love, Katie."

I rolled my eyes and smiled. George couldn't possibly like me.

"BETH I AM SO SORRY, I SWEAR OLIVER DIDN'T MEAN FOR THIS TO HAPPEN! Please feel better! Lots of love, Batavia."

I grinned. Of course she'd defend Oliver.

"Took a really powerful one in the head there, Beth. The twins said you were high as a kite when Madam Pomfrey gave you that potion. I'd have paid to see it! Get well soon. Lee."

Of course the twins publicized the fact that I'd been off my rocket!

"Sorry I didn't defend you and Harry better. I really hope you'll forgive me. Feel better soon! We need our mastermind! Fred.

Fred's already apologized but now I will too. Bloody hell, Beth, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would get this bad. Please get well soon, I really miss you we really miss you. With love George."

I felt my heart skip a beat as I read George's message. I really did fancy him. I did. Wow. My silly thirteen year old self fancied George Weasley! Simply seeing and reading what he'd written was enough to get butterflies in my stomach! Something was wrong with me... this would never even work out! George saw me as a sister... didn't he?

"Good game out there Potter. You're not too shabby at Quidditch. To be honest, I'm not as much of a git as everyone else on my team. You probably don't believe that so, how about having a butterbeer with me next Hogsmeade weekend? It's right before Christmas. Feel better soon. Adrian Pucey."

I looked at the card, very surprised. The door burst open and Katie came in.

"You're reading the cards!" She squealed. "Oh Beth I'm telling you, George fancies you-"

I showed her the card and her eyes widened.

"Adrian Pucey!" She cried. "Adrian Pucey, the FIFTH year?"

"Yes I suppose that is him," I said. "But what on earth-"

"Ooh we TOLD you you'd be getting asked to Hogsmeade!" Katie said. "This is insane, a SLYTHERIN is asking you for butterbeer? I'm so excited, oh you must say yes, Adrian might be really kind, and since you refuse to accept that George fancies you-"

"George couldn't possibly fancy me," I said. "And I CAN'T go to Hogsmeade. I'll have to tell Adrian I can't. I'm- I'm not interested."

"Beth!" Katie whined.

"I'll kindly reject him next time I see him," I said. "How long have I been out?"

"Just since yesterday," Katie said. "Ooh now that you mention that... there's been another attack! Little first year Colin Creevey... you know... with the camera!"

"No!" I gasped. "Is he-?"

"He's alive," Katie said, "but petrified! No one knows who did it."

"That's awful," I said. "But at least they can't frame Harry and I- we were here!"

"Well I dunno," Katie said. "Some people are still talking... but there's good news despite this! They're starting a dueling club! First meeting is tomorrow!"

"Ah," I said. "Well I'll be sure to pop by..."

Of course I never would've gone if I knew Lockhart was teaching it.

"Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!"

I groaned and face palmed myself, which made Fred and George smirk.

"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions. For full details, see my published works."

"Reckon Dumbledore only gave him permission so he could make a fool of himself?" I asked. "There's no way he believes all the crap Lockhart says he's been through."

"You're probably right," George said with a grin. "Dumbledore is sneaky."

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape! He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin."

"Ten Knuts says Snape hurts Lockhart in the first five minutes," George whispered to Fred, who enthusiastically nodded.

"Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry- you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear."

"Five Sickles says Snape uses some sort of awful curse!" Bixby said, making me shake my head.

"Five Sickles says Snape will use a simple curse and humiliate him!" I said. Both sets of twins looked at me quizzically and nodded.

Lockhart and Snape stood on the stage, apart from each other in a competitive stance.

"As you can see, we are holding out wands in the acceptable combative position," Lockhart said. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spell. Neither of us will be aiming to kill of course."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Harry piped up from beside me, making me grin.

"One-two-three!"

"Expelliarmus!" Snape said. The flash of red light hit Lockhart and blasted him off his feet. He flew off the stage and landed eagle sprawled on the floor.

"Do you think he's alright?" Hermione and Batavia asked frantically.

"Who cares?" I said. "I'm five Sickles richer. Pay up, Bixby."

George grinned at this, and opened his hand to receive ten Knuts from Fred, who sighed and placed them in the palm of his hand.

"Well there you have it!" Lockhart said, limping slightly as he got back onto the stage. "That was a Disarming Charm. As you see, I've lost my wand. Yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind me saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy. However, I felt it would be instructive to let them see..."

Snape looked so murderous it was a wonder he didn't finish Lockhart off right then and there.

"Enough demonstrating!" Lockhart said. "I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all in pairs. Professor Snape, if you would like to help me-"

My friends immediately began to split ourselves into pairs, but someone else swooped over and pulled me aside.

"Adrian!" I said in surprise as the gang stared at me in awe (except for Katie of course since she knew he'd sent me a letter and all.)

"Hey," he said, grinning. "Care to partner up?"

"Sure," I said, looking uneasily at Batavia, who was dumbstruck.

"So, did you read my card?" Adrian asked once he'd led me a bit aways from my friends.

"Yes," I said. "Adrian I can't go. I haven't got my Hogsmeade permission slip signed."

"Oh," Adrian said. "Well that's okay, we can spend the day here. I know people who can get butterbeer from the kitchen. We can er- spend the day in the library or something."

"W-why are you doing this?" I asked. "Is this some strange type of joke?"

"What?" Adrian asked. "No- I er, I just wanted to get to know you."

I stared at him, still surprised.

"Erm," I said. "Get to know me? But-"

"Oh come on, Potter," Adrian said with a grin. "You're- you're really pretty. Actually, there's a load of Slytherin boys who think you're really attractive. They're all pricks though, and they don't know how to talk to a girl-"

"So ultimately you're- you're asking me out on a sort of date?" I asked.

"Yeah," Adrian said. "Yeah I am. Then maybe we can go on another date-"

"No, Adrian, I-I'm sorry," I stammered. "I'm not- I don't- I've never been on a date and I- well I fancy someone else-"

"I see," Adrian said. "Well that's alright, we can still go out for a butterbeer."

I noticed how much closer he was getting to me, and I backed away rather quickly.

"I'm not interested," I said quickly. "You seem really nice but-"

"Oh come on," Adrian said, coming even closer. "You don't mean that-"

"Yes I do!" I said frantically, feeling more and more afraid. "Adrian please- stop getting so close-"

"I'm not doing anything-"

"You heard her, Pucey, get away," a voice said from behind Adrian.

George stepped between us, glaring coldly at Adrian.

"I'm not hurting her, Weasley," Adrian snapped.

"She doesn't want you near her, and you're not respecting her, so back off," George said.

Adrian took one step closer and George shoved him forcefully away.

"Back the bloody hell off, Pucey, before someone gets hurt," George snarled.

Adrian cursed and shook his head, walking away.

"Thanks," I said, feeling my breathing become steady again.

"What's that bloke's problem?" George asked.

"He wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me," I said. "Kept pushing for us to go on some sort of 'date.' But I'm not interested."

"He's a git," George mumbled. "You deserve better."

He looked at me, and turned slightly pink when I smiled at him.

Tuning back to what was occurring in the room, I saw Harry had been paired with Malfoy onstage to duel.

"Oh crud," I said, getting closer to the stage, George by my side.

"Three- two- one- go!" Lockhart shouted.

"Serpensortia!" Malfoy bellowed.

I gasped loudly as a snake appeared in front of Harry.

"Don't move, Potter," Snape said lazily as the snake slithered toward Harry. "I'll get rid of it."

"Allow me!" Lockhart said. He waved his wand and made the snake fly up in the air, only for it to land again and hiss furiously, slithering toward a Hufflepuff boy near the stage.

Then suddenly Harry made a strange strangled hissing noise and the snake hesitated, then suddenly did nothing.

"What do you think you're playing at?" The Hufflepuff boy said furiously, turning to storm down the hall.

I gaped at Harry in disbelief. My brother was a Parselmouth.


	15. Chapter 15

Next thing I knew, Justin Finch Fletchley, the Hufflepuff that Harry had saved, and Sir Nicholas the ghost had been petrified. This of course meant that we made a jump on the Polyjuice Potion by mid November, and when holidays came around it was quite nearly ready.

The attacks had caused many people to go home for the holidays. Only the Weasleys, Hermione, and a handful of Slytherins remained, which luckily included Malfoy and his goons.

Harry had confided in me how glad he was that everyone was leaving. He said he was sick and tired of people dodging him in the corridors and being all scared. Batavia had been right- they began to call him the Heir of Slytherin.

Fred and George tried to make it funny to improve Harry's mood. Whenever we walked around school they'd shoo people out of the way saying "make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through!"

"It's not a laughing matter," Percy had said coldly one day when he'd passed.

"Oh get out of the way, Percy," Fred said. "Harry's in a hurry."

"Yeah he's off to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his fanged servant," George chortled, putting his arm around me as he laugh, which made my skin tingle and the butterflies in my stomach dance.

After what he'd done for me with Adrian Pucey, I felt my feelings for him growing stronger. I felt idiotic, like I was turning into every other lovestruck fourteen (my birthday was yesterday) year old girl. Everytime I saw George smile, I would smile too. Whenever he laughed it was so infectious that I'd get weak at the knees and have to pretend I felt dizzy or something. It was insane, and it was torturing me, because this- this wasn't me. I wasn't some silly and daft creature that fawned over boys like this. It was agonizing, because despite everything Katie and Batavia said, I still didn't believe George fancied me.

On Christmas morning, I woke up extra early to finish adding the lacewings into the potion, only to find George was waiting in the Common Room.

"Merry Christmas," I chirped, hoping my face wasn't turning pink.

"Merry Christmas, Beth," George said with a wide grin. "Where are you off to?"

"To finish the potion," I said. "Want to come?"

"Sure," he said.

As we stepped out of the portrait hole, I noticed mistletoe had VERY conveniently been placed overhead.

I pretended I hadn't seen it, and heard George laugh.

"What?" I asked quickly.

"You just broke the law," he said. "People are supposed to kiss under mistletoe."

"I'm sick," I lied. "That overrides the law. Don't need you dying in my arms after that screaming about a cursed kiss."

"Hmm," George said, looking at me and grinning.

"Hmm," I said right back, trotting down the corridor and trying to stop myself from freaking out and turning around and doing something utterly stupid- like kissing him.

After I'd added the lacewings, George and I headed back to Gryffindor tower to awaken Harry, Ron, and Hermione. When we passed under the mistletoe, George laughed, and I made a face at him.

"Good morning," I said, shaking Harry while George woke Ron. "The potion is ready."

"Really?" Harry asked. "Wow."

Hermione came closer from where she'd been standing by the doorway. "If we're going to do it, I say it should be tonight."

At dinner, Hermione urged us together to finish talking over her plan.

"We still need a bit of the people you're changing into," she said. "And obviously, it'll be best if you can get something of Crabbe and Goyle's, they're Malfoy's best friends, he'll tell them anything. And we also need to make sure that the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating them."

"We should have talked this out before," Fred said, looking a little worried.

"It's fine, I've got it all worked out," Hermione said, taking out two plump chocolate cakes. "I've filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. All you have to do is make sure Crabbe and Goyle find them. You know how greedy they are, they're bound to eat them. Once they're asleep, Beth can pull a few hairs out and Fred and George can hide them in the broom closet."

"Hermione I don't think-" Harry began uncertainly.

"That could go seriously wrong," Ron said.

"It's fine," I said. "If not then I'll improvise."

"Improvise?" Harry asked. "How?"

"The point of improvising is doing it on the spot," I said. "It'll be fine."

When dinner had ended, Fred, George, and I headed for a deserted corridor the goons would need to pass by on their way to the Slytherin Common Room. I placed the cupcakes on a banister and hid behind a large statue with the twins.

"How thick can you get?" George whispered as Crabbe reached for the cakes, handing one to Goyle.

"Obviously very," Fred said, making me quite nearly snort.

Once they'd fallen asleep, I took out two vials. In one I placed Crabbe's hair and in the other Goyle's. Next, the twins half carried, half dragged them into a broom closet while I held the door open.

"Brilliant," Fred said. "Let's go."

We sped down the hall, and found Harry, Ron, and Hermione checking out some Slytherin robes.

"Got them from the laundry!" Hermione said. "This potion looks really good, Beth, excellent work..."

I grinned, handing a vial of hair to Harry and Ron.

"Which is which?" Harry asked.

"I think yours is Goyle's and Ron's is Crabbe's," I said, making them both make disgusted faces.

Hermione handed me three glasses.

"Alright," I said, starting to pour potion into all three, "this potion will taste disgusting. When it's given to you, put the hairs in and swish it around a bit. It's going to look and smell nasty, but try and drink as much of it as possible so it'll last longer."

Harry and Ron gagged as Fred and George handed them their glasses. I gave Hermione hers.

"I recommend you all go into separate stalls," I said, motioning to the different bathroom stalls. "You'll be needing to change after transforming."

They each took stalls, and the twins made faces as I shrugged.

"Ready?" I asked them.

"Ready," they chirped back. I nodded to the twins.

"Alright," Fred said. "George and I are counting. Three-"

"-Two-"

"-One-"

I heard them all begin sipping, and immediately coughing afterwards.

"That was disgusting!" Ron moaned.

"Told you," I said.

"Should've bet he'd be the first one to complain," Fred said with a grin.

We waited a few minutes for them to transform and change. When the boys opened the stall doors, they came out as Goyle and Crabbe.

"This is unbelievable," Ron mumbled as he looked in the mirror. "Unbelievable..."

"We'd better get going," Harry said. "We've still got to find out where the Slytherin Common Room is. I only hope we can find someone to follow..."

"Go down the corridor and take a right, a left, and another left," I said. "Their password's been the same for years according to the sources I spied on the other day. It's probably something stupid."

Ron nodded, then smirked when he saw Harry.

"What?" Harry demanded.

"You don't know how bizarre it is to see Goyle thinking," Ron said, which made the twins and I burst out laughing.

I went to Hermione's stall and knocked.

"I- I don't think I'm going to come after all," she squeaked. "You go without me."

"Hermione," Ron said, "we know Millicent Bulstrode's ugly, no one's going to know it's you-"

"No- really," Hermione said. I could tell something was wrong. "I don't think I'll come. You two hurry up, you're wasting time."

Harry and Ron hesitated, but I shooed them out. Once they'd left, I heard Hermione sob.

"Come on out, Hermione," I said gently. "Whatever it is, I'm sure I can fix it."

"I-I don't think so," she stammered. "Beth, I don't want to come out..."

"Fred and George aren't going to judge," I said, shooting them a warning look. "Come out..."

Hermione reluctantly exited, and I saw her face had become furry.

"Oh crud," I said. "That must've been cat hair you got off Bulstrode..."

"I look horrible!" Hermione sobbed.

"You don't," I said. "Come here... hmm... Fred, George, reckon you can pass me the book please? It's there by the sink..."

George grabbed the book and passed it to me. I flipped through the pages and smiled.

"I can reverse this using the same potion," I said. "I just need to add one more ingredient... bulbadox powder."

"We got it," Fred said.

"We'll be back soon," George said. I nodded and smiled gratefully as he and Fred slipped out.

Hermione let out another sob.

"It's okay," I said. "This should fix it right up."

"I shouldn't have trusted that it would be her hair!" Hermione said. "It was so short and her hair is so long.. I'm so stupid!"

"You are not stupid," I said. "People make mistakes, alright? We can and will fix this, and Harry and Ron needn't ever know this happened."

Hermione leaned on me and cried a bit more. I patted her back consolingly.

After awhile, the twins came back with the Bulbadox Powder. I added it to the potion and stirred it, making the potion become a nice lilac.

"Drink up, Hermione," I said, getting a new glass and filling it with the new potion. Hermione drank it, and very slowly her face began to go back to normal.

Once she was completely restored, she burst into more tears and flung her arms around me.

"Thank you, Beth," she said, crying onto my shoulder. Fred gave me a thumbs up and George nodded in approval.

By the time Harry and Ron returned, we'd cleaned the entire bathroom up, and disposed of the potion. They began to tell us everything they heard as we walked quickly to the Gryffindor Common Room, succeeding in making it back without getting caught.

Once we'd begun to climb through the portrait hole, Hermione announced she was going to bed. Harry and Ron followed, then Fred, but George lingered behind to go through the portrait hole with me.

"There's still a chance," George said with a grin, smirking at the mistletoe overhead. "You don't sound sick."

"You're an arse," I said, feeling my cheeks growing scarlet.

"I just don't like breaking the law all the time," George said. Before I could stop myself, I tiptoed and pressed a kiss on his cheek, then darting upstairs while George laughed.

The next day, the first floor flooded, and Harry, Ron, and I went to investigate in hopes that it wasn't our fault.

We found Myrtle in her bathroom, crying harder than ever, and realized she'd might've the flooding, not us.

"Hey Myrtle," I said softly as we approached her. "Are you okay?"

"No!" She shrieked miserably. "Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me!"

"But it can't hurt you if someone throws something at you. I mean, it'd just go right through you, wouldn't it?" Harry said, which I sighed to, since Myrtle would be indignant.

Myrtle indeed shot him a nasty look.

"Let's all throw books at Myrtle, because she can't feel it!" She cried. "Ten points if you can get it through her stomach! Fifty points if it goes through her head! Well, ha ha ha! What a lovely game, I don't think!"

"Who threw it at you?" I demanded.

"I don't know!" She wailed. "I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell right through the top of my head. It's over there, the awful thing, it got washed out..."

I looked under the sink where she was pointing and saw a small, thin book lay there, with a shabby black cover. I reached over to pick it up, but Ron held my arm back.

"What?" I snapped.

"Are you crazy?" Ron asked. "It could be dangerous?"

"Dangerous?" I said. "Come off it, how could it be dangerous."

"You'd be surprised," Ron said. "Some of the books the Ministry's confiscated, Dad's told me- there was one that burned your eyes out. And everyone who read Sonnets of a Sorcerer spoke in limericks for the rest of their lives. And some old witch in Bath had a book that you could never stop reading! You just had to wander around with your nose in it, trying to do everyone one handed. And- don't pick that book up, Beth!"

"I don't have to," I said dully, straightening up and summoning it straight into my hand. Ron made a face and I seeped into his mind.

"She is bloody mental! Didn't I just-"

"I get it, Ron, yes, I'm bloody mental," I said, rolling my eyes. He turned pink.

I flipped the book over in my hands and observed it.

"TM Riddle," I said. "This is a diary."

"Hang on!" Ron said. "I know that name. TM Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago."

"How on earth did you know that?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Because Filch made me polish his shield about fifty times in detention," Ron said. "That was the one I burped slugs all over. If you'd wiped slime off a name for an hour, you'd remember it too."

I opened the diary and flipped through the pages.

"It's all blank inside," I said. "He really never bothered to write in it."

"I don't know any guy who writes in diaries," Harry said.

"Well sure but-"

"I wonder why someone wanted to flush it away," Ron said. "And why it's still here after fifty years."

I looked at the back cover of the book. "This was probably a Muggle born kid. This was purchased at a variety store on Vauxhall Road in London."

"Let's go show Hermione," Harry said.

Ron nodded, and leaned close to me to whisper "fifty points if you get it through Myrtle's nose."

I smacked him with the diary and then pocketed it.

Hermione seemed overly excited when we showed her the diary, and was thoroughly convinced the diary might have some sort of hidden power.

"What I wonder," Harry said, "is why Riddle got an award for special services to Hogwarts."

"Could've been anything," Ron said. "Maybe he got thirty OWLs or saved a teacher from the giant squid. Maybe he murdered Myrtle, that would've done everyone a favor."

"That's rude, first of all," I said, "and second of all, you might be onto something."

The trio stared at me in disbelief.

"Think of it," I said. "The Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, and the diary is fifty years old."

"So?" Ron said.

"We know the person who opened the Chamber last time was expelled fifty years ago," I said. "We know TM Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago. What if Riddle got the award for catching the Heir of Slytherin? His diary might tell us everything, if we find out how to get something out of it. It could tell us where the Chamber is, how to open it, what creature is inside, who was behind the attacks, who's behind the attacks this time. Now it makes me wonder... how long Myrtle's been dead."

"I wouldn't fancy asking her that," Harry said.

"But think of it!" I said. "Like Malfoy said, last time the Chamber was opened someone died. Myrtle died HERE, in the school, and would have died during her Hogwarts years. She might have been the one that was killed when the Chamber was last opened!"

"That's very possible," Hermione said. "But er... I recommend you or Harry asks her about that."

"I'll ask her eventually," I said. "I want to look into this diary later, just to see what's up with it."

"Why not now?" Ron asked.

"Ginny asked for help with something," I said. "Not quite sure what, but she said it involved writing..."

_______

Valentine's Day brought all sorts of commotion to Hogwarts. I was given Valentines by Ravenclaw fourth year Kirke Lopp, Adrian Pucey, Hufflepuff SIXTH YEAR Jason Weir, and Gryffindor third year Humbert Reynolds, who, according to Bixby, has been head over heels for me since first year.

"I don't like this," I mumbled as I was given my fifth valentine by one of the delivery dwarfs. "Look at this, Fletcher Hemmings! I don't even know this bloke!"

"Well you got much more attractive," Batavia said happily as Wood pressed a kiss on her cheek, his arms wrapped so tightly around her that she could die in a few minutes.

"If you mention my chest area again I will slap you," I said, tearing open the letter and looking in confusion at it.

"What?" George asked.

"Says here this Fletcher doesn't even go to Hogwarts!" I said. "He's a ten year old in Kent who really admires me... wishes me a Happy Valentines Day... and hopes I'm doing well. That's sweet."

"Incoming," Katie chirped, coming to give me a letter, then waving and leaving to sit with her boyfriend at the Ravenclaw table.

Bixby sighed and I looked at him quizzically.

"What's wrong, mate?" Lee asked.

"I fancy Katie," Bixby mumbled. "I sent her a Valentine. I don't think she's read it yet."

"Oh Bixby," I said, patting his shoulder. He just looked miserably at his toast.

I tore open the new letter and looked at it, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" George asked again.

"This doesn't say who it's from," I said. "But wow it's really nice. Says I light their world up... make them smile every day... they don't know how they'd survive if I didn't exist... huh. Wonder who that's from."

"That's cheesy," Batavia said.

"Well kind of," I said. "It's very cute. Of course, it might be nicer if I knew who wrote it... I hope it isn't some random person who's seen me twice in the hallways."

"I bet that's from one of your many admirers," Fred said, pointing at his chest.

"Shut up!" I groaned, putting my head down at the table. "I'm sick of you lot mentioning it!"

"Sorry," Fred said, although he didn't sound sorry at all.

When breakfast ended, Harry ambushed me in the corridor before class and handed me the diary.

"I need you to investigate it tonight," he said. "Ink got spilled all over it and it- look at it, it's perfectly fine."

"I'll look into it," I said. "What's wrong? Why did you spill ink all over it?"

"Delivery dwarf made my bag fall," Harry mumbled. "Ginny... she wrote a singing Valentine to me."

"Ah," I said. "I know, she asked me to look over it for spelling mistakes."

"Oh no," Harry groaned. "You let her send it?"

"It was sweet of her," I said. "Don't give her a hard time about it, please."

"Alright," Harry said. "Just look into it, please."

"Sure," I said.

That night I did exactly that. While the other girls slept, I went down to the Common Room and sat comfortably by the fire with the diary in my lap, a bottle of ink and a quill beside me.

I dipped the quill in the ink and let the ink drop on one of the pages. Immediately it disappeared, as if it had been absorbed into the diary.

"Wicked," I whispered.

I dipped the quill into the ink bottle again and then wrote. "My name is Elizabeth Potter."

The words remained there for a moment, then disappeared. I was worried nothing was going to happen, but then, someone wrote back.

" _Hello Elizabeth Potter. My name is Tom Riddle_."

I grinned, glad it had worked. After seconds the words vanished, and I wrote back. "Nice to meet you."

" _Nice to meet you too. How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"_

"Fourteen, you?"

" _Sixteen. How did you come by my diary_?"

"Someone tried to flush it down a toilet."

" _Lucky that I recorded my memories in some more lasting way than ink. But I always knew that there would be those who would not want this diary read."_

"What do you mean by that?" I scribbled.

" _I mean that this diary holds memories of terrible things," Tom replied. "Things that were covered up. Things that happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_."

"That's where I am now," I wrote back. "I'm at Hogwarts, and horrible stuff's been happening. What can you tell me about the Chamber of Secrets?"

" _In my day, they told us it was a legend, that is did not exist. But this was a lie. In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one. I caught the person who'd opened the Chamber and he was expelled. But the Headmaster, Professor Dippet, ashamed that such a thing had happened at Hogwarts, forbade me to tell the truth. A story was given out that the girl died in a freak accident. They gave me a nice, shiny, engraved trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut."_

"You were quite the hero then," I wrote admirably. "Must've taken a lot of guts to confront the person. You're very brave."

" _Kind of you to say so. You must be brave yourself, if you seek such knowledge."_

"Not really, I'm just worried. What happened to the person after they were expelled? And the monster?"

" _The monster lived on, and the one who had the power to release it was not imprisoned._ "

"That might explain why it's happening again now. There have been three attacks and no one seems to know who's behind them. Who was it last time?"

_"I can show you, if you like. You don't have to take my word for it. I can take you inside my memory of the night when I caught him."_

"Alright," I wrote, my heart beating fast. Take me inside a memory? What did that mean? Will it hurt me?"

" _Not at all. You'll be perfectly safe. Let me show you_."

The pages of the diary began to flip very quickly, and suddenly stopped on a page where the "June 13th" was written, which I suppose indicated the date this took place. A little square appeared on the page, growing larger. It appeared to be a little window. I pressed my face close to it, peeking through it.

Immediately my body left the chair I was sitting in and I touched ground again, but in the Headmaster's office.

The man in the chair must have been Armando Dippet. He didn't seem to have noticed my arrival, so I waited patiently until there was a knock.

The door opened and a very attractive boy entered. He was quite a bit taller than me, with had jet black hair and deep, cold, brown eyes. A shining Prefect's badge gleamed on his chest, very prominent on his Slytherin robes.

"Ah, Riddle," Dippet said.

"You wanted to see me, Professor Dippet?" Tom asked.

"Sit down," Dippet said. "I've just been reading the letter you sent me."

"Oh," Tom said, wringing his hands together nervously.

"My dear boy," Dippet said gently, "I cannot possibly let you stay at school over the summer. Surely you want to go home for the holidays?"

"No," Tom said immediately. "I'd much rather stay at Hogwarts than go back to... to that... that..."

"You live in a Muggle orphanage during the holidays, I believe?" Dippet asked.

"Yes sir," Tom said, turning pink. He looked almost ashamed.

"You are Muggle born?" Dippet asked.

"Half blood, sir," Tom mumbled. "Muggle father, witch mother."

"And are both your parents-?"

"My mother died just after I was born, sir," Tom said softly. "They told me at the orphanage she loved just long enough to name me. Tom, after my father, Marvolo, after my grandfather."

I couldn't help but feel really bad for him. Tom was apparently trying to look as though it didn't cause him any emotion, but it clearly did.

"The thing is, Tom," Dippet said, "special arrangements might have been made for you, but in the current circumstances-"

"You mean all these attacks, sir?" Tom asked.

"Precisely," Dippet said. "My dear boy, you must see how foolish it would be of me to allow you to remain in the castle when term ends. Particularly in light of the recent tragedy... the death of that poor little girl... you will be safer by far at your orphanage. As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about closing the school. We are no nearer locating the er... source of all this unpleasantness."

"Sir, if the person was caught, if it was all stopped-"

"What do you mean?" Dippet asked. "Riddle, do you mean you know something about these attacks?"

"No, sir," Tom said a bit quickly.

"You may go, Tom," Dippet said, clearly disappointed.

As Tom exited the Headmaster's office, I followed closely behind him.

"What are you doing, wandering around this late, Tom?" A voice asked from behind, making me jump.

Tom turned and nodded to Dumbledore, who was walking towards us. "I had to see the Headmaster, sir."

"Well, hurry off to bed," Dumbledore said. "Best not to roam around the corridors these days. Not since...."

Tom nodded and began to wall away, and I followed him down a corridor.

Of course since it was a memory, I didn't expect that Tom was going to speak to me. So when he did, I was scared shitless.

"You see, I really needed to catch this person," Tom said.

"Bloody hell!" I said, leaping away from him, which made him smile. "You're talking to me."

"I can manipulate my memories," Tom said simply. "You can't tamper with them, though, unfortunately."

"I wouldn't expect I'd be able to," I said. "Wow... sorry for asking but you really didn't have any other family to go to?"

"No," Tom said. "It would've been nice if I did, perhaps."

"That's stupid," I said. "How could they let you go back to a Muggle orphanage? They should've found a wizard family to raise you. You wouldn't have had anyone to talk to about magic over there."

"I do wish you had been alive during my school years," Tom said, smiling again ever so slightly. "You might've improved my quality of life quite a bit..."

Then he turned a corridor quickly, making me jog to catch up to him.

There was a noise, and Tom waved for me to follow him. He moved quietly, all the way through a door into what seemed to be a secret passageway.

"Cmon... gotta get yeh outta here.. cmon now... in the box..."

That had to be Hagrid's voice.

I was right. Tom jumped out around the corner and I went to stand beside him, seeing the dark outline of a very huge boy crouching over a large box.

"Evening, Rubeus," Tom said sharply.

Hagrid closed the box abruptly. "What yer doin' down here, Tom?"

"It's all over," Tom said. "I'm going to have to turn you in, Rubeus. They're talking about closing Hogwarts if the attacks don't stop."

"Wha' but I didn'-"

"I don't think you meant to kill anyone," Tom said consolingly. "But monsters don't make good pets. I suppose you just let it out for exercise and-"

"It never killed no one!" Hagrid cried.

"Come on, Rubeus," Tom said, moving closer to him. "The dead girl's parents will be here tomorrow. The least Hogwarts can do is make sure that the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered."

"It wasn't him!" Hagrid cried. "He wouldn'! He never!"

"Stand aside," Tom said. He flicked his wand and the corridor was filled with light. The box flew open and a rather large spider came out, and ran right for me. I screamed and jumped to the side, quite nearly falling. Tom seemed to alter the memory again to catch me, and softly move me aside, before he ran after the spider shooting spells at it. Hagrid ran behind him, yelling.

Then the memory dissolved, and I landed back in the Gryffindor Common Room, sweating profusely.

I scooped up the diary and sprinted upstairs to Harry's dormitory. I shook him awake and told him everything I'd just seen.

"So you're saying-?"

"Harry, it was Hagrid. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago."

Before the Quidditch match the next day, I was pulled aside by Hermione.

"What's wrong?" I asked, strapping on my boots.

"Remember the voices Harry was hearing?" She asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Have you got a theory?"

"Yes!" She said. "Please, come with me to the library..."

"Hermione I've got a game soon-"

"It'll only take a few minutes I promise!" She said.

"Alright," I sighed, jogging behind her as she sped to the library.

She was right, it really only took a few minutes for her to find a book, cry 'aha!' and dart toward me to show me what it said.

"Basilisk huh," I mumbled. "That makes a lot of sense."

"Exactly!" She said. "We should tell Dumbledore right away."

"Yes we should," I said. "Hermione, has anyone ever told you that you are downright brilliant?"

She turned slightly pink. "If this is true the we should- hey!"

One of the sixth year prefects for Ravenclaw, a girl I knew to be named Penelope Clearwater, looked quizzically at Hermione.

"Wait for us!" Hermione said, running up to her.

"Erm," Penelope said.

"You were about to turn a corner, and we are too," Hermione said. "Do you have a mirror on you?"

"Yes," Penelope said, taking it out of her pocket. "What the bloody hell is this about? If you're playing some sort of joke-"

"We're not!" I said. "Just a theory. We need to check around with corners with a mirror, to be safe."

"Alright, whatever," Penelope said, rolling her eyes and positioning the mirror for her and Hermione to look through.

I was trying to get a good look when suddenly Hermione gasped.

The next thing I knew, she and Penelope collapsed on the floor, rigid as stone. The mirror crashed to the floor and broke into many pieces.

Then stupid, stupid me, turned around to see what was behind us, even though I knew I would be looking directly at the basilisk.

The last thing I saw was a pair of very yellow eyes, and the familiar figure of Tom Riddle sprinting forward and catching me before I hit the ground as my world turned black.


	16. Chapter 16

I heard running water and immediately had the urge to pee, except then I remembered I was supposed to be dead and instead got REALLY confused.

I groaned and opened my eyes.

Where the bloody hell was I?

This didn't look like heaven or hell or even what I expected purgatory to look like. Had I reincarnated?

"Ah Elizabeth, you're awake."

I turned and saw Tom Riddle was sitting a bit aways from me, apparently having been waiting patiently for me to wake up.

"Am I dead?" I asked.

"Do you want to be?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," I mumbled, sitting up.

The room I was in was well, more like a chamber. There was water everywhere around me, though luckily not where I sat. There were enormous snake heads all around and it was freezing.

"The Chamber of Secrets," I breathed.

"Very good," Tom said, nodding.

"How am I still alive?" I asked. "I didn't look at the basilisk through a mirror or anything—"

"You really haven't figured it out?" Tom asked dully.

"Well I've kind of just woken up, I'd rather YOU tell me."

Tom chuckled slightly. "I suppose I could tell you, Elizabeth. But I think it would be more interesting for you to figure it out."

I looked at him quizzically.

Tom sighed. "Oh come on, silly girl, you're supposed to be intelligent."

"I'm kind of confused," I said. "It's hard to think properly when you're confused."

"Turn into a crocodile," Tom said.

I shrugged and did so. The next moment I was a crocodile. That's when it hit me.

"I'm immortal, aren't I?" I gasped as I transformed back, which made Tom smile.

"Yes you are," he said. "You felt no pain and no nausea just now that you transformed. You've discovered your final power. You are, in fact, immortal."

"Wait," I said, "if I'm immortal, then why did I black out when I saw the basilisk's eyes? Wouldn't it just not affect me?"

"Ah, now you are asking the interesting questions," Tom said, coming closer to me. "You see, when you saw the basilisk, I expected you would drop dead immediately. However, you were paralyzed in fear for a good minute. THAT is how I realized you were not going to be killed."

"So you blacked me out to bring me here," I deduced.

"Exactly," Tom said. "To talk it over, you see. I know quite a bit about these powers of yours."

"What happens now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what happens now that I know all five? Do I just keep them all forever or is there a catch? There must be some sort of catch."

"I'll tell you that in a moment," Tom said. "Come, take a walk with me."

He got up and offered me his hand, which I took, and he began to lead me all around the chamber.

"Would you like to formally meet the basilisk?" He asked.

"Hmm," I said. "Erm... I dunno if that's such a good idea what if it attacks me?"

"It listens to me," Tom said. "It likes me."

He whispered something in a strangled hiss, and there was a large hissing sound that was returned from the large pipe we were about to wall into.

The enormous snake exited from there, and this time, I didn't let fear stop me from contemplating its magnificence.

It must've been about sixty feet long, and if it tried to touch the roof of the chamber, which was probably fifty feet into the air, I suspect it could've with ease.

Tom beckoned the basilisk forward. It slithered toward me and came to a rest right in front of me, looking at me with its large yellow eyes and flicking its tongue. It put its head in front of my hand and I stroked it gently, making the basilisk close its eyes.

"It likes you," Tom noted. "It's never met anyone who can look it in the eye without perishing."

"Tom," I said, turning to him, "when you say the basilisk listens to you.... I can't help but wonder... have you been setting it on the Muggle borns in the school?"

Tom pretended he hadn't heard. "I suppose you'd like me to explain to you the deal with your powers. Your fatal flaw is how you care more about others than yourself. You saw this last year facing Quirrel. Now if you do that, it can be slightly dangerous— for you. If you were to, say, sacrifice yourself for your brother, and were put into a position that were you not immortal, you would die, then not only would you lose your immortality but also all your other powers. You cannot have one without the others."

"So what you're saying," I said, my heart beating fast, "like, if I would've known I was immortal last year and Quirrel had, I dunno, stabbed me through the heart—"

"You wouldn't have died," Tom cut in. "But you would have lost all your powers because you had purposely placed yourself in a position where, without powers, you would have died in an instant. That stab through the heart would be the last time you'd be immortal, and from thereon you'd be quite vulnerable."

"Wow," I mumbled as Tom began to lead me back to where we'd been sitting. "That's certainly not something I was expecting."

"No, I suppose Dumbledore wouldn't have told you that," Tom agreed.

I looked up and around the Chamber and suddenly noticed something red flashing from behind one of the snake pillars.

"Is that— Ginny—?"

Tom didn't react, and I sprinted forward to find Ginny's body lay behind a pillar, previously obstructed from my view.

"Ginny oh Merlin!" I cried, cradling her head in my hands. "Why— what— what is she doing down here?"

"You asked me before about why the snake listened to me," Tom said. "I am the Heir of Slytherin. I have been this entire time. That little diary you found about a month ago? Well, that diary holds a piece of my soul, and when it wound up in the hands of your precious sister, the silly girl let me overcome her. SHE wrote the message on the wall with blood. SHE unleashed the basilisk by opening the Chamber of Secrets. But she didn't know, of course..."

"No! Ginny!" I cried, trying desperately to make her wake up. I stared at Tom angrily.

"Who even are you?" I snapped. "You're a Death Eater, aren't you?"

Tom chuckled. "Lord Voldemort, actually."

He raised a wand— my wand, to be exact— and in the air wrote his name, 'Tom Marvolo Riddle.' With a flick of the wand the letters rearranged themselves to spell 'I am Lord Voldemort.'

Gaping at him in horror, I summoned my wand straight into my hand and pointed it at him, which made Tom jump slightly, then smile maliciously.

"Let Ginny go or I will hurt you," I snarled. "I can use my powers to their full extent now, Tom."

Tom laughed and shook his head. "As Ginny grows weaker, I go stronger. If you hurt me, she will quite inevitably, die."

I stared at Ginny, then at him, my mouth open in horror.

"There is a way you can save her life of course," Tom said, stepping closer to me. "Say you will rule beside me. I'll let Ginny go, and then you and I can take over the world together."

"That's absurd!" I said. "I wouldn't rule beside you if you were the last person on earth!"

Tom chuckled. He kicked my wand out of my hands and gripped me by the throat, pulling me to him.

"Don't be an idiot, girl," he said coldly. "Your 'saving people' complex isn't going to help you here. I'm offering you her life for yours. It's a small price to pay if you want to see your sister alive."

Then Tom let me down softly, and caressed my face with his cold hand.

"It wouldn't be bad," he whispered. "It would be very interesting... a handsome boy and a beautiful girl... together... making those who were unworthy cower before us... we could be unstoppable. I'd even spare your brother and every Weasley's life. Perhaps those Hoganson twins too. See? Your friends could all live... all you have to do is say yes."

I glared at Tom angrily. Then he cupped my face in his hands and kissed me, which I immediately pushed myself away from.

Anger flaring through me, I summoned a knife directly into my hand and threw it. Unbelievably, it bounced off his skin and instead came flying back to me. I barely caught it as it made for cutting my face.

"Don't be foolish!" Tom said. "You can save the lives of everyone you love and you're not taking it? Perhaps you don't care about them as much as you pretend to."

"I don't want to rule with you, Tom!" I snarled. "I'm not going to go murder innocent people for the fun of it."

"Other girls might've died over the chance to be by my side for the rest of their lives!" Tom yelled. "You— something is wrong about you, I was sure this would entice you enough—"

"You killed my parents!" I snapped. "I saw you kill them! I don't want anything to do with you! If I had known—"

I threw the knife again. It bounced off and I dodged it as it flew back, turning into a snake and slithering around Tom's legs, making him collapse.

He gripped my throat and sent me flying back. I landed as a jaguar, and pounced back on him, slashing at his face. But the claws had no effect on his features. His skin simply would not be cut.

"You'd be tiring yourself out, idiot girl!" Tom yelled. "Just because you feel no pain does not mean you feel no fatigue!"

Ignoring him, I transformed into the enormous basilisk, and wrapped myself around him. I tried to bite his arm, to no avail.

Tom was laughing now, laughing maliciously.

I turned back into a human and summoned my wand to my hand.

I flicked it and sent a Stinging Hex to Tom, which did nothing.

"When will you realize this amounts to nothing?" Tom asked, lazily flicking his hand and causing my wand to fly into his open palm.

There was a noise at the back of the chamber. Voices. Familiar voices.

"Your brother and his friend are here," Tom said, a devilish smile on his face. "Now—"

I shot forward as if by an invisible force pushing me and landed in Tom's arms. He held my face and laughed maliciously.

"Last chance," he whispered. "Say you'll rule beside me and I won't kill them."

Then he pressed a kiss on my lips again, so I punched him and leapt backwards.

"Never!" I hissed.

"As you wish," Tom said, gritting his teeth. He flicked the wand and I blacked out again.

_______

"Beth! BETH!"

I shot up, looking wildly around the chamber.

Tom was gone. Ginny was awake. Harry was in front of me, covered in blood.

"Harry!" I cried, hugging him. "Oh my god, Harry, you're covered in blood—"

"I'm alright," Harry said. "Really I am. Bloody hell, Beth, you've— you've been missing for a month. When you didn't show up for the Quidditch match everyone thought you'd been petrified but they only found Hermione and that Ravenclaw prefect— what happened?"

"I looked the basilisk in the eye!" I cried. "I'm— I'm immortal! That's my last power!"

Harry gaped at me. "Wow.. that's...."

"Stupid!" I said, feeling tears coming down my face. "I didn't— Tom tried— he couldn't make me—"

"It's okay," Harry said, hugging me again. "You don't have to explain right now."

I nodded. Ginny ran over and threw her arms around me, also crying.

"This is my fault!" She cried. "Now I'm going to be expelled! I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and— w-what'll Mum and Dad say?"

"Don't worry about that right now, Ginny," I said, hugging her and Harry tightly to my chest.

Harry urged us to get up, and had us follow him down to the end of the chamber.

"Ron!" Harry yelled. "Ginny and Beth are okay! I've got them!"

There was a cheer, and when we turned the corner we found Ron peeking through a gap in the rocks that appeared to have fallen from the ceiling.

"Ginny!" Ron cried, reaching through to pull Ginny to him. "You're alive! I don't believe it!"

Next Harry urged me to go through the gap, and was greeted with a firm hug from Ron.

"I thought I'd lost both of my sisters!" He said. "Oh man... you should've seen how angry the twins were when you disappeared... especially George..."

George! I was going to see George again!

Harry then climbed through, and a phoenix swooped in behind him.

"Where did he come from?" I asked, observing the phoenix.

"He's Dumbledore's," Harry said.

"Wow Harry how come you've got a sword?" Ron asked, which made me look down and see a glittering silver sword in Harry's hand.

"I'll explain when we get out if here," Harry said. "Where's Lockhart?"

"Lockhart?" I spluttered. "Lockhart is here?"

"He tried to obliviate Harry and I," Ron said. "Used my wand though, so now he doesn't even know who he is!"

Ron led us down another path, and we found Lockhart sitting on a rock, humming to himself.

"Hello," Lockhart said. "Odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?"

"No," Ron said.

"I want the full details of what happened," I said, a small grin on my face.

"Well once we figure out how to get out of here," Harry said.

The phoenix fluttered around me and flapped the back of it's wings.

"Hang on," I said. "I think I get what you're saying. He wants us to grab hold of his tail so he can fly us up."

The phoenix nodded.

"Can it carry all of us?" Ron asked.

"Definitely not," I said, although the phoenix looked indignant. "Let me help."

I transformed into a phoenix, which made the me in front of me trill happily.

"Woah!" Ron said. "Will you be able to make it up, Beth?"

"She can now," Harry said. "She discovered her fifth power— Immortality. She won't feel pain anymore."

"Wicked!" Ron said. "I'll take Ginny..."

"And I suppose I'll take Lockhart," Harry said, grabbing onto my tail feathers. Ron did the same with the other phoenix, who, once everyone was ready, took off and flew up through the pipe. I imitated it, and the whole way Lockhart was giggling like a child.

We landed in Myrtle's bathroom, and I transformed back into a human.

"Woah!" I cried. "The entrance to the Chamber was here?"

"Yep," Harry said. "Where to now, Fawkes?"

The phoenix, apparently named Fawkes, fluttered its wings and led us out of the bathroom and straight to McGonagall's office.

I pushed open the door and we all stepped in.

For a moment no one in the office spoke when we entered, but then Mrs Weasley lept out of her chair.

"Ginny! Beth!" She cried. She and Mr Weasley came forward and flung their arms around us, hugging us so tight we could barely breathe.

Then Harry began to tell his story. He talked about the voices he heard, Hermione figuring out it was a basilisk, him and Ron's adventure with several gigantic spiders, and the realization that I'd been right about Myrtle being the victim of the last opening of the Chamber.

Then I jumped in and explained what I'd learned and what Tom had told me in the Chamber, even including the fact that he kissed me twice, which seemed to make Harry very angry.

Then Harry finished the story by explaining how he fought Tom and killed the basilisk and ultimately we had arrived here.

"What interests me most," Dumbledore said, "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he in currently hiding in the forests of Albania."

"W-what's that?" Mr Weasley asked. "You Know Who? Enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not... Ginny hasn't been... has she?"

"It was this diary," I said, showing it to Dumbledore. "Tom wrote it when he was sixteen and somehow preserved his soul in it."

Dumbledore looked over it. "Brilliant. Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen. Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school... traveled far and wide... sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."

"But Ginny," Mrs Weasley said. "What's our Ginny got to do with him?"

"His d-diary," Ginny cried. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been writing back all y-year."

"Ginny!" Mr Weasley said. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain? Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic!"

"I d-d-didn't know!" Ginny sobbed. "I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it!"

"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away," Dumbledore said. "This had been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort. Bed rest and perhaps a large steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up. You will find that Madam Pomfrey is awake, she's just giving out Mandrake juice. I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up at any moment."

"So Hermione's okay!" Ron said.

"Yes. There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny," Dumbledore said.

Mr and Mrs Weasley then led her away, still looking deeply shaken.

"You know Minerva," Dumbledore said, "I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchen?"

"Right," McGonagall said. "I'll leave you to deal with the Potters and Weasley, shall I?"

"Certainly," Dumbledore said.

She left, and Dumbledore looked at Harry and Ron.

"I seem to remember telling you both that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules," Dumbledore said. "Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words. You will both receive Special Awards for Services to the School and— let me see—yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."

Harry and Ron looked overjoyed. However, then Ron explained to Dumbledore what had happened to Lockhart, which I suppose meant he felt guilty about it, but Dumbledore merely told him to take him to the hospital wing.

"Now Elizabeth," Dumbledore said once Ron had left. "Your powers."

"Did you know?" I asked. "That if I essentially gave up one of my powers I'd lose them all?"

"I did not," Dumbledore said. "In fact, you are the first out of all the people who have ever had powers that apply to Duquette's law that are immortal."

"Really?" I asked.

"Naturally that makes you the strongest ever," Dumbledore said. "Which in turn, means you will suffer most from a fatal flaw. With greatness comes great weaknesses. Had your power been, healing, let's say, this wouldn't be an issue. But immortality is of large magnitude on the scale of importance, therefore it is the most brittle and can cause everything to crumble down."

"Tom said that if I sacrificed myself I'd live, but never have powers again," I said.

"He was right," Dumbledore said. "This of course only happens with serious injuries, however. If Harry is attacked by a bear and you throw yourself in front of it and it bites your arm, you will not lose your powers. But if Harry had been attacked by the basilisk and you'd let it bite you for his sake, your last bit of immortality would stop you from dying in that instant, but immediately wash away all your powers."

I sighed, and rubbed my arms.

"You made the right choice, Elizabeth," Dumbledore said. "Refusing to rule alongside Tom. He was right, other girls might have reacted differently."

"I feel horrid though," I whispered. "I refused, and he might have killed Ginny and Harry and Ron because of it."

"He might've killed them even if you said yes," Dumbledore said. "Tom is sly in that manner. You stood against him. You did the right thing, whether you feel you did or not."

I nodded.

"Alright," Dumbledore said. "Time for you to see your friends. I need to talk to Harry now."

I hugged Harry before leaving, then headed to the Hospital Wing, where I found all my friends waiting for me.

"BETH!" Batavia and Katie screamed, running to hug me.

"What happened to you?" Bixby asked frantically.

I told them what Tom had done and said in the Chamber, and how Harry had rescued me. Everyone was infuriated when I told them.

"He KISSED you?" Batavia asked in disgust. "But he's ancient... that's disgusting!"

"Wow Beth," Katie whispered. "I can't—"

"Let's not talk about that anymore," I said quickly, blinking away tears. "I don't want to have to remember that Voldemort even... got close to me. I'm repulsed."

The gang nodded, and I smiled gratefully.

"Immortal, huh?" Lee said, whistling.

"Yeah I guess so," I said.

"This is brilliant!" Fred said. "Now we can test out our pranks and make sure they're not too dangerous."

We all laughed at that one, and I shook my head.

Exams were cancelled, which was great, because the rest of the year became smooth sailing.

On the train ride back we all played Exploding Snap, enjoying our last moments together before summer split us up again.

"Did you ever find out why Percy was so secretive?" Fred asked me.

"Oh yes, Ginny told me," I said. "Percy's got a girlfriend— Penelope Clearwater."

The twins gaped at me.

"Apparently that's who he was owling all summer," I said. "Ginny walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom. Don't tease him about it though, please."

"Wouldn't dream of it," George said, looking as though his birthday had come early.

"Definitely not," Fred sniggered.

Harry and I found Uncle Vernon waiting nearby the Weasleys again when we got off the train, and sighed.

"This is a telephone number," Harry said to Ron and Hermione, giving it to them so they could call us. "Call us."

"Will do!" Hermione said, hugging me tight and waving as she went to join her parents.

I hugged all the Weasleys again before going to Uncle Vernon. The last person I went to was George.

He smiled, and pulled me into his arms, hugging me so tight that not only did the butterflies in my stomach go crazy, but I also felt like never letting go.

"I'm glad you're alive," he whispered in my ear. "Dunno what I'd do without you."

"Are you ever going to tell me what you saw in the mirror?" I asked, pulling away and smiling at him.

"Maybe," he said, grinning. "Another day. Not today."

"Oh come on George!" I said.

"I promise I'll tell you eventually, Beth," he said. "But the day I tell you there will be a LOT of explaining to do."


	17. Chapter 17

Midnight. Most people are asleep at midnight. Some of us, however, are wide awake.

"What happened with the witch burning then?" Harry mumbled as he fiddled with his quill. "Bagshot doesn't say..."

"Oh I have a whole textbook for that," I said, rolling off the bed and taking out a book from the closet and handing it to Harry.

"Thanks," Harry said. "What are you working on?"

"Arithmancy," I said happily, dipping my quill in ink again.

"Reckon Ron will call again?" Harry asked.

"I hope not," I said. "Uncle Vernon might disconnect his land line..."

A few weeks earlier, Ron had called the house. After screaming into the phone that he was looking for 'Harry and Elizabeth Potter' and quite nearly bursting Uncle Vernon's eardrum, the latter had hung up and given us extra chores for three weeks because we gave the Weasleys our number.

I checked the clock and grinned. I got off the bed and summoned a present that had been cleverly hidden in the cupboard under the stairs. I handed it to Harry, who looked at me, dumbstruck.

"Happy birthday!" I said excitedly. "You're thirteen now!"

He smiled, and took the present, opening it carefully.

Inside was a scrapbook I'd put together with help from my godfather, who had sent me several pictures of my parents in their school years. In the margins I'd written qualities that I saw in my parents through the pictures that Harry had as well.

Harry teared up slightly, and set his essay aside to hug me tightly.

"Thank you," he said. I patted his back gently and looked out the window, grinning when I saw three approaching owls.

I pushed away from Harry and went to the window, letting the three owls drop the things they carried. The first, Errol, was the Weasley's owl. I gave him some water and summoned a sausage for him before sending him off. Next was Hedwig, which hooted silently and went straight to her cage. The last was a school tawny owl, which did not accept any treats, for some reason.

"Look!" Harry said, showing me a newspaper clipping enclosed in the letter from Ron.

"Oh I'm so glad Mr Weasley won the prize money!" I said in delight. "They went to Egypt... wow..."

"There are some letters for you too," Harry said, handing me three letters.

"Three?" I asked. "But only the twins ever write to me."

"Last one's from Percy," Harry said.

"Percy?" I said, taking the letters. I opened his first.

Dear Elizabeth,

Just wanted to tell you that I was made Head Boy! I remember when we were younger I told everyone that I wanted to be Head Boy and you were the only one out of all my siblings (except Bill and Charlie of course) that didn't laugh. Couldn't have done it without you.

Thanks,

Percy

I smiled, glad he still remembered that.

Dear Beth,

We have some great pranks planned for this year. If you wouldn't mind helping finalize the details it would be great.

Egypt is really cool, and has given me a lot of thinking time. According to Mum I'm allowed to have a girlfriend now, and I was wondering if you could help me ask Angelina out on a date.

We can talk more about it on the train or when we see you, but I'd like it to be something special. It doesn't even have to happen this year, I just wanted you to know that I'd be really grateful if you'd help me. I trust you most with this.

Your favorite prankster forever,

Fred

This made me excited, because I'd been wanting Fred and Angelina to get together for years now!

Dear Beth,

Missing you loads, hope you've been well. I'm excited to see you again because like Fred may have mentioned, we have some GREAT pranks planned.

Also I wanted to suggest... we could forge a signature if you need, so you and Harry can go to Hogsmeade this time around. Let us know.

I'm not keeping what I saw a secret because I want to make you mad (although it is quite funny). I just think I want to wait a bit, for the right moment, so I can tell you. I'll tell you eventually, I promise.

Lots of love best wishes,

George

That only made everything more conflicting, the thing he did with crossing out words. This was the second time he'd done it, and yet I still couldn't grasp the fact he possibly liked me.

What could he have even seen? What was so important that he had to wait for "the right moment?" It couldn't be anything too major, could it?

Dear Miss Potter,

Do not forget that you are taking two Ordinary Wizarding Level exams this year. The classes you are signed up to test for are Potions and Transfiguration. I expect that you will remain diligent with work in both classes, and seek help when needed.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Ah, that's right, this year I had to take two OWLs. As Katie would say, "that's what you get for being such an overachiever."

"Look what Hermione got me!" Harry said excitedly, pulling out a Broomstick Servicing Kit.

"Wow!" I said. "Bloody hell that's enormous, we'll need to hide that in the closet or under the bed."

"Damn, I wish we could play Quidditch right now," Harry said solemnly.

"We'll be able to soon," I said. "Open that last one- it's from Hagrid."

Harry reached for the package, and it growled at him.

Harry looked at me fearfully, so I took the package and carefully opened it.

Inside was a book, but not just any book. It was the Monster Book of Monsters, and it was very aggressive for some strange reason.

"What the bloody hell would Hagrid send you this for?" I said, hissing slightly as the book bit me.

I summoned it into my hand and pulled on the belt that was on it. It shuddered very angrily, and was luckily unable to hurt anyone.

"Says here that he thinks I might find it useful for next year," Harry said.

"Damn," I said. "I hope he means for this to be used as a weapon..."

Harry tore open the last letter, and then frowned, showing me the enclosed Hogsmeade permission slip.

"The twins could forge signatures if we really need it," I said. "But for now... maybe we can make a deal with Uncle Vernon and convince him to sign both slips.

"Reckon he might do it?" Harry asked.

"Maybe," I said. "We'll ask him in the morning... I think we should sleep now.

"True," Harry said. I took the envelopes and stowed them in a drawer. I folded the letters neatly and placed them inside the witch book I'd given Harry, and put that back into the closet. As Harry curled up on his bed I smiled at him.

My baby brother was thirteen now.

_______

The next morning Harry and I were determined to ask Uncle Vernon to cut us a deal, but found him and the rest of the family immersed in the television.

"..the public is warned that Black is armed and extremely dangerous. A special hot line has been set up, and any sighting of Black should be reported immediately."

I looked at the person onscreen. He had a gaunt face surrounded by matted, elbow length tangles.

"Look at the state of him, the filthy layabout!" Uncle Vernon said. "Look at his hair! There's no need to tell us he's no good. Ah they're moving onto other news! Didn't even tell us where that maniac's escaped from! What use is that? Lunatic could be coming up the street right now!"

I looked at Harry, who appeared to be intrigued by this.

"He looks familiar," I mumbled to him. "I swear I've seen him before... I think he was there when Hagrid took us out of Mum and Dad's house when..."

"What?" Harry said incredulously.

"There were a lot of Muggles watching," I said. "Maybe that's what it was... but I swear I know him... and I think I remember seeing him with a big smile on his face..."

Uncle Vernon coughed, which made Harry and I turn back to our toast.

"I'd better be off in a minute, Petunia," he said. "Marge's train gets in at ten."

Harry looked at him, his eyes wide. "Aunt Marge? Sh-she's not coming here, is she?"

I looked uncertainly at Harry. Who was Aunt Marge?

"Tell you later," he mouthed.

"Marge'll be here for a week," Uncle Vernon said. "And while we're on the subject, we need to get a few things straight before I go and collect her.

"Firstly, you'll both keep a civil tongue in your head when you're talking to Marge."

"All right," Harry said. "If she does when she's talking to me."

"Secondly, as Marge doesn't know anything about you, girl, and the abnormality you both have, I don't want any funny stuff while she's here. You behave yourselves, got me?"

"I will if she does," Harry said through gritted teeth.

"And thirdly," Uncle Vernon continued. "We've told Marge that YOU-" he pointed to Harry "attend St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys and that YOU-" he pointed at me "attend St. Katherine's Academy."

"What?" I said. "But that's not real-"

"It's the girls version of St Brutus!" Uncle Vernon yelled. "Real or not you two will stick to that story or there will be troubled."

"Then you need to make a deal with us," I said fiercely.

"Excuse me?" Uncle Vernon said.

"From third year and up we get to visit a village sometimes on weekends," I said. "Last year I forgot to ask you, but this year Harry can go too and we need you to sign permission forms for us."

"And why should I do that?" Uncle Vernon demanded.

"Because if you don't we won't keep up the story," I said fiercely. "And I'll show her some of my powers."

Uncle Vernon's jaw went slack.

"But we promise," Harry piped up, "to pretend we go to St Brutus' and St Katherine's if you sign it."

"Right," he snapped. "I shall monitor your behavior carefully during Marge's visit. If, at the end of it, you've toed the line and kept the story, I'll sign your ruddy form."

"Brilliant," I said. "Thanks. Come on, Harry."

I led him upstairs, and when we got to the bedroom I closed the door.

"So who is this Marge character?" I asked.

"Basically," Harry sighed, "she's Uncle Vernon's sister. She lives in the country in a house with a really big garden and she breeds bulldogs."

"She doesn't sound too bad," I said.

"Wait til you hear this," Harry said. "At Dudley's fifth birthday party, she whacked me in the shins with her walking stick to stop me from beating him at musical statues. Then at Christmas once, she got me a box of dog biscuits and gave Dudley a computerized robot. Then when I was ten, I accidentally stepped on the tail of her favorite dog, Ripper, and he chased me up the tree and she refused to call him off until past midnight."

"Alright she really IS a foul woman," I said. "Bloody hell, it's going to be harder than I thought to stay in line."

"We will do it though," Harry said. "We'll do our best. Let's see- Hedwig, I'm going to ask you to stay at Ron's for a bit. It's not my fault, it's the only way we'll be allowed to visit Hogsmeade."

Hedwig looked at us indignantly. I scribbled a quick letter to the Fred and George and attached it to her, then sending her off with a kiss.

What seemed like only a few minutes later, Aunt Petunia shrieked up the stairs for us to get ready to greet Aunt Marge.

"Do something about your hair!" Aunt Petunia snapped to Harry as we came down.

I flattened down my shirt and made sure my hair wasn't sticking out too much.

There was a crunch of gravel outside that let us know that Uncle Vernon was back.

"Get the door!" Aunt Petunia hissed.

I moved forward and opened the door.

There stood Aunt Marge. She was enormous, and had a slight mustache. Under her arm was an old and evil tempered bulldog.

"Where's my Dudders?" She roared. "Where's my neffy poo?"

Dudley waddled down the hall in a bow tie, and allowed Aunt Marge to give him a tight hug and a wet kiss on the cheek.

"Petunia!" Aunt Marge roared, going to hug her. Her chubby jaw collided with Aunt Petunia's bony cheekbone.

"Tea, Marge?" Uncle Vernon asked happily from the door. "And what will Ripper take?"

"Ripper can have some tea out of my saucer," Aunt Marge said.

She pushed past us and into the kitchen, where she finally acknowledged Harry and I's presence.

"Still here, boy?" Aunt Marge said.

"Yes," Harry said.

"Don't say 'yes' in that ungrateful tone," she growled. "It's damn good of Vernon and Petunia to keep you. Wouldn't have done it myself. You'd have gone straight to an orphanage if you'd been dumped on my doorstep."

Then she fixated her glance on me.

"You hired a maid, Petunia?" Aunt Marge asked.

"No," Aunt Petunia said. "She's the boy's older sister."

Aunt Marge contemplated me deeply.

"Too skinny," she said. "Bony ankles... plain... hair as red as carrots..."

I didn't respond.

"Where did you come from?" She demanded.

"I was raised elsewhere," I said.

"Hmm," Aunt Marge said. "Any other siblings that might show up to be brats?"

"No," I said, clenching my teeth.

"Don't say 'no' in such a rude way!" She barked. "Where do you send these two to school, Vernon?"

"The boy goes to St Brutus's," Uncle Vernon said. "It's a first rate institution for hopeless cases- boys that is. The girl goes to St Katherine's, the girls' branch."

"Do they use the cane at St Brutus's, boy?" Aunt Marge asked nastily.

"Yes," Harry said. "All the time."

"What about at St Katherine's, girl?" She demanded.

"They use a whip there," I said.

"Excellent," she said. "I won't have this namby pamby wishy washy nonsense about not hitting people who deserve it. A good thrashing is what's needed in ninety nine cases out of a hundred. Have you been beaten often?"

"I am, a lot," I said, thinking of all the times Filch threatened to whip the twins and I.

"Oh yeah," Harry said. "Loads of times."

"I don't like your tone, boy," Aunt Marge hissed. "If you can speak of your beatings in that casual way, they clearly aren't hitting you hard enough. Petunia, if I were you, I'd write to them. Make it clear that you approve the use of extreme force in the case of this boy, especially."

Uncle Vernon then cut in, perhaps afraid that we might forget the bargain since she was insulting us. "Heard the news this morning, Marge? What about that escaped prisoner, eh?"

Aunt Marge was tolerable enough the next few days, however she still thought insulting Harry and I was much more entertaining than any other conversation. She clearly hadn't found much more to criticize in me, and had mostly turned her full force on my brother.

On the third day, things began to grow worse.

"You mustn't blame yourselves for the way they've turned out, Vernon," she said. "If there's something rotten on the inside, there's nothing you can do about it."

I noticed Harry tensed up. I kicked him slightly under the table, shooting him a warning glance. He looked at me, his eyes wild.

" _I can't stand much more of this!_ "

" _I know_ ," I thought back to him.

"It's one of the basic rules of breeding," Aunt Marge continued. "You see it all the time with dogs. If there's something wrong with the bitch, there'll be something wrong with the pup-"

The wine glass in her hand then exploded, shards flying everywhere.

"Marge!" Aunt Petunia shrieked. "Marge are you all right?"

"Not to worry," Aunt Marge said. "Must have squeezed it too hard. Did the same thing at Colonel Fubster' the other day. No need to fuss, Petunia, I have a very firm grip..."

Harry looked at me, his eyes slightly wider.

"Excuse us," I said, amidst the glances that Uncle Vernon was shooting us.

Harry and I went straight to our room. He collapsed on the wall, breathing deeply.

"It's been so long since I lost control and made something explode," be gasped, shaking. "I'm sorry... I can't... I didn't mean to..."

"It's alright," I said. "I'm angry too, but you need to think of Hogsmeade. You really want to go. If you want, we can have more mental conversations, that'll help you ignore whatever she says..."

"No," Harry said. "It's fine, I'll control it..."

And he did, for the next meal and the entire next day. However, on the final evening of her stay, Aunt Marge decided to open her fat mouth a tad too much.

"Can I tempt you, Marge?" Uncle Vernon asked, holding a bottle of brandy.

Aunt Marge had already had a lot of wine, but she still accepted a glassful of brandy.

"Ahh," she sighed. "Excellent nosh, Petunia. It's normally just a fry up for me of an evening, with twelve dogs to look after... but I do like to see a healthy sized boy.. you'll be a proper sized man, Dudders, like your father. Yes, I'll have a spot more of brandy, Vernon..."

Then she turned to Harry. I shot him a warning look.

"Now this one here's got a mean, runty look about him. You get it with dogs. I had Colonel Fubster drown one last year. Ratty little thing it was. Weak. Underbred."

The thought of her purposely murdering a dog infuriated me, and I could tell Harry was angry too.

"It all comes down to blood, as I was saying the other day. Bad blood will out. Now I'm saying nothing against your family, Petunia, but your sister was a bad egg. They turn up in the best families. Then she ran off with a wastrel and here's the result right in front of us. Now... girl, how old are you?"

"Fourteen," I said through gritted teeth.

"Ha!" Aunt Marge said. "A right example. Your mother had you at what, seventeen?"

I nodded slowly.

"Of course," she sighed. "Irresponsible she was, and that father of yours. This Potter... you never told me what he did?"

I ignored the urge to transform into a shark to scare the daylights out of her.

"He- he didn't work," Uncle Vernon said, looking carefully at Harry and I. "Unemployed."

"As I expected!" Aunt Marge said. "Probably living like pigs, you were, with no money."

"Actually," I cut in angrily, "my father inherited a fortune from my grandfather. He invented a very famous hair product."

"So he lived off his father's money!" Aunt Marge said. "Of course, a no account, good for nothing, lazy scrounger who-"

"He was not," Harry snapped.

"MORE BRANDY!" Uncle Vernon yelled. "You boy, go to bed, go on-"

"No, Vernon," Aunt Marge said. "Go on, boy, go on. Proud of your parents, are you, children? They go and get themselves killed in a car crash, drunk I expect-"

"They didn't die in a car crash!" Harry snapped, looking at me furiously and standing up.

"Harry!" I cried. "Calm down, please-"

"They died in a car crash, you nasty little liar, and left you and your sister as burdens to their decent, hardworking relatives! You are an insolent, ungrateful little-"

Then she stopped.

I stared at her in horror. She began to swell up. Her red face expanded, her eyes bulging, her mouth stretching too tightly for speech. The buttons on her jacket burst and flew everywhere. She looked like an enormous balloon, or a whale. Her fingers grew to be ticker than sausages.

"MARGE!" Uncle Vernon roared.

Aunt Marge began to float off the chair, rising like a blimp. Her dog began to bark madly as she bounced off the roof.

"NOOO!"

Uncle Vernon tried desperately to pull her down, but couldn't, especially not when Ripper latched himself to his legs.

Harry sprinted out of the kitchen and I followed him.

"Get the books!" He hissed.

I ran upstairs and quickly began gathering all our things, putting all the books on my bed. I gathered our school supplies and letters and Harry's birthday presents in a bag and swung it over my shoulder, stacking the books in my arms. Lastly I grabbed Hedwig's empty cage.

I ran back downstairs and found Harry had extracted the trunks from under the stairs. I threw the books inside my trunk and Hedwig's cage in Harry's.

"COME BACK IN HERE!" Uncle Vernon roared to us. "COME BACK AND PUT HER RIGHT!"

He ran out and seized me, shaking me.

"YOU HAVE MORE POWERS!" He snarled. "TURN HER BACK!"

Harry pulled me out of Uncle Vernon's grasp and pointed his wand at him.

"She deserved it," he snarled. "She deserved what she got. You keep away from my sister and I."

Harry stepped back and threw open the door, urging me to walk out.

"We're going," Harry said coldly. "I've had enough."

Then he urged me out the door, not looking back as he dragged his trunk behind him.


	18. Chapter 18

When we reached Magnolia Crescent, Harry stopped abruptly and leaned against a wall, panting and looking angry.

"Harry?" I whispered.

"We shouldn't have left," he said. "We have no Muggle money, we don't know where to go, and I've probably been expelled now."

"Harry you didn't mean for her to get as big as a whale," I said. "They can't expel you for that."

Harry put his face in his hands and let out a groan of frustration.

"Let's keep walking," I said. "We can't stay here..."

"What's going to happen to us?" Harry demanded. "Are-are we going to get arrested? Will the wizarding world outlaw me? Oh Merlin, Ron, the twins and Hermione are all abroad... Batavia and Bixby are in America, do- do you know anyone that can help us? Damn it! Even so we don't have Hedwig..."

Harry cursed and fell back against the wall.

"Harry, calm down," I said. "Breathe. We can figure this out."

"I'm going to be an outcast now," he whispered. "Maybe I'll just take the Invisibility Cloak, my trunk, and broom to London and figure out what I'm going to do."

"I?" I snapped. "We're in this together. YOU aren't going anywhere alone."

He fiddled with his wand in his hands, which were shaking.

Then he looked to what was behind me and he tensed up.

"Lumos," he said, pushing past me and holding his wand up to see down the alleyway.

"Is that, a dog-?" I gasped.

The distinct figure of a large animal was in the alley.

It took a few steps forward, and Harry pushed me back.

"I'm going to investigate it," I said, snatching Harry's wand from him.

"Beth!" He snapped. "This counts as sacrificing yourself!"

"It's a dog, what is it going to do, bite my heart out?" I said.

I stepped closer to it.

The animal continued to get nearer and nearer. For some reason, I was not afraid. I felt like this was all going to be alright.

The massive dog ended up right in front of me, and I stared at it curiously. A distant memory was stirred immediately in my head.

_"Look here, Beth!"_

_My father held a curtain over the doorway. He dropped it, and behind it was a massive dog with jet black fur._

_I giggled and ran to it, hugging it and patting its head. I squealed as it licked me._

_"Pads!" my mother said. "Don't do that, she could get sick!"_

_The dog stared at her indignantly and bent its head down for me to pet him. I scratched him right behind his ear, and his leg began to twitch._

_Bubbling with joy, I continued to scratch behind his ear. The dog's leg twitched madly, and it sad down, looking at me with big eyes. I laid down next to it and rested my head on it's belly, smiling and petting it as my father said "she loves you, Pads!"_

Looking at the dog now, I cocked an eyebrow uncertainly.

"Pads?" I whispered.

The dog wagged its tail. I scratched behind his ears and smiled as its leg twitched.

I heard a noise and turned to see Harry had tripped over his trunk.

There was a loud bang and suddenly a purple triple decker bus was parked next to the curb. "The Knight Bus"

I turned and saw the dog had left. Sighing, I went to Harry, and helped him up.

The bus doors opened and a man stepped out.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening. Woss your names?"

I looked at Stan uncertainly.

"I'm Neville Longbottom," Harry said.

"P-Patricia Longbottom," I said quickly. Stan nodded.

"So this bus," Harry said quickly, "you said it goes anywhere?"

"Yep," San said. "Anywhere you like, long's it's on land. Can't do nuffink underwater."

"How much would it be to get to London?" Harry asked.

"Eleven Sickles each," Stan said. "But for fifteen each you get 'ot chocolate, an 'ot water bottle, an' a toofbrush in the color of your choice."

"Just eleven each," I said, taking twenty two Sickles out of my bag and handing them to stand. "Get inside... Neville."

Harry entered the bus and I smiled slightly at Stan, looking back to try and catch a glimpse of the dog. There was nothing.

I hopped in after Harry, and saw that there were no seats- just beds.

"You two 'ave these," Stan whispered, shoving our trunks under two beds behind the driver. "This is our driver, Ernie Prang. This is Neville and Patricia Longbottom, Ern."

The elderly wizard nodded to us, and I saw Harry flash me a nervous look.

"Take 'er away, Ern!"

There was another loud bang and Harry and I were thrown back onto the beds by the force that came with the incredible speed of the bus. Grasping the mattress tightly I sat up and looked out the window, realizing we were on a street that couldn't have possibly been in Little Whinging.

"This is where we was before you flagged us down," Stan said happily. "Where are we, Ern? Somewhere in Wales?"

"Wales?" Harry mouthed to me as Ern nodded enthusiastically.

"How come the Muggles don't hear the bus?" I asked as we zipped past a crowded street.

"Them!" Stan said. "Don' listen properly, do they? Don' look properly either. Never notice nuffink, they don'."

"Better go wake up Madam Marsh, Stan," Ern piped up. "We'll be in Abergavenny in a minute."

After going up a narrow staircase he came down with a witch who was slightly green in the face.

"'Ere you go, Madam Marsh," Stan said as Ern stopped the bus. Madam Marsh covered her mouth with a handkerchief and trotted off the bus. Stan threw her bag out to her after she'd gotten off and then closed the doors, which led to another loud bang indicating the return to high speed travel.

"I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway," Harry mumbled, which made me laugh.

Stan situated himself in front of us and unrolled a copy of the Daily Prophet. On the cover was the familiar man that was supposedly on the loose in the Muggle world.

"I swear I've seen him before!" I said to Harry. "He looks so familiar...."

"I dunno how you say you can remember him when he was smiling," Harry said. He began to read off the newspaper. "Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today.

"'We are doing all we can to recapture Black,' said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, 'and we beg the magical community to remain calm.'

"Fudge has been criticized... eh that's not too important... ah, while Muggles have been told that Black is careying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse... bloody hell is that even possible?"

"Yeah," I said, finding myself not believing anything that was being said. I didn't understand why I felt like it was impossible for Sirius Black to have done this. Something inside me was screaming to me that I KNEW this man, that he couldn't have done that.

"Scary lookin 'fing, inee?" Stan said, making me jump.

"Not really," I mumbled. "I can't help but feel he's been... framed or something. The Sirius Black I knew wouldn't that."

"The Sirius Black YOU knew?" Stan asked. "Wotcha mean you knew? Yeh must 'o bin not even three years old when 'e dunnit ter those Muggles!"

"I swear I know him," I said. "I KNOW him.... from a distant memory."

Then I visualized it again. Sirius Black, younger, with a smile on his face, reaching his arms out to hug me.

"Patty, yer mighty strange," Stan said. "Black woz a big supporter of You Know 'Oo."

"What, Voldemort?" Harry said.

Stan jumped back and Ern jerked the steering wheel so hard I flew onto the floor.

"You outta your tree?" Stan yelled. "Choo say 'is name for?"

"He doesn't understand that he really shouldn't use it," I said quickly. "Our er... our families aren't big fans of calling him 'You Know Who' and whatnot because they think that's er... stupid."

Stan looked at me uncertainly.

"So-so Black was a supporter of You Know Who?" Harry prompted.

"Yeah," Stan said. "That's right. Very close to You Know 'Oo, they say. Anyway when little 'Lizabeth and 'Arry Potter made it ou' of that 'ouse alive, all You Know 'Oo's supporters was tracked down, wasn't they, Ern? Most of 'em knew it was all over, wiv You Know 'Oo gone, and they came quiet. But not Sirius Black. I 'eard he thought 'e'd be second in command once You Know 'Oo 'ad taken over.

"Anyway, they cornered Black in the middle 'o a street full 'o Muggles an' Black took out 'is wand and 'e blasted 'alf the street apart, an' a wizard got it, an' so did a dozen Muggles what got in the way. 'Orrible, eh? An' you know what Black did then? Laughed. Jus' stood there an' laughed. An' when reinforcements from the Ministry of Magic got there, 'e went wiv 'em quiet as anyfink, still laughing 'is 'ead off. Cos 'e's mad, inee, Ern? Inee mad?"

"If he weren't when he went to Azkaban, he will be now!" Ern said. "I'd blow meself up before I set foot in that place. Serves 'im right, mind you, after what he did."

"They 'ad a job coverin' it up, din' they, Ern?" Stan said. "Ole street blown up an' all them Muggles dead. What was it they said 'ad 'appened, Ern?"

"Gas explosion," Ern said.

"An' now 'e's out," Stan sighed. "Never been a breakout from Azkaban before, 'as there, Ern? Beats me 'ow 'e did it. Frightenin' eh? Mind, I don't fancy 'is chances against them Azkaban guards, eh, Ern?"

"Talk about summat else, Stan, there's a good lad," Ern said, shivering. "Them Azkaban guards give me the collywobbles, and these kids shouldn' be listenin' to this..."

Stan reluctantly folded the newspaper and moved to stand closer to Ernie.

"It's really scaring me how you say you know that Sirius Black bloke," Harry said.

"Trust me," I said. "Something about him... I don't think he's bad."

"You've had a really positive outlook on everything since we left," Harry said. "You trusted the dog like it couldn't possibly attack you, and now you're sure Sirius Black is innocent or something."

"I can't help the fact that I remember them both from my past," I said icily. "

We spent about another hour in the bus. One by one, the passengers inside began to get off, and eventually Harry and I were the only passengers left.

"Right then, Neville, Patty, where abouts in London?" Stan asked, clapping his hands enthusiastically.

I looked at Harry.

"Diagon Alley," Harry said firmly.

"Right," Stan said. "'Old tight, then."

There was another bang, which threw me against the bus wall and made me groan in pain. The bus moved through several streets and gave a sudden stop right in front of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Thanks," Harry and I piped up.

I dragged my trunk off the bus and waited patiently on the side for Harry to gather his things.

"There you are, Harry! Elizabeth!"

I whipped around, my wand drawn, and saw that I'd pointed my wand right at Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.

"Oh," I said, quickly putting my wand down. "I'm sorry."

"Quite all right," he said with a chuckle.

Stan, who had been watching from the door, leapt onto the pavement beside us.

"What didja call Neville and Patty, Minister?" He asked excitedly.

"Neville? Patty?" Fudge asked, frowning. "This is Harry and this is Elizabeth Potter."

"I knew it!" Stan shouted. "Ern, Ern! Guess 'oo Neville and Patty are? Ern! They're 'Arry and 'Lizabeth Potter! I can see 'Arry's scar!"

"Yes," Fudge said, urging Harry and I away from the bus. "Well, I'm very glad the Knight Bus picked Harry and Elizabeth up, but we need to step inside the Leaky Cauldron now..."

He grabbed Harry and I by the shoulders and led us into the bad, where the barman took a curious look at us.

"You've got them, Minister!" He said. "Will you be wanting anything? Beer? Brandy?"

"Perhaps a pot of tea," Fudge said, leading Harry and I to a table. "Sit down, you two...."

I sat down first, then Harry slowly sat beside me. I rubbed my hands together, scooting closer to the fire. Fudge took his coat off and tossed it aside, lowering himself into a chair.

"I am Cornelius Fudge, Harry and Elizabeth," he said. "The Ministry of Magic."

"We know," I said without thinking. Immediately, my eyes widened and I covered my mouth. "I'm sorry... I do that when I'm nervous."

Fudge chuckled slightly. The barman slid in between us and brought three cups of tea.

"Well you two," Fudge said, "you've had us all in a right flap, I don't mind telling you. Running away from your aunt and uncle's house like that! I'd started to think.... but you're safe, and that's what matters."

"It's my fault, sir," Harry blurted out. "I chose to leave, and was going to go elsewhere by myself, but Elizabeth came with me. She hasn't done anything wrong, it was all my fault."

"Nevermind that now," Fudge said. "Both of you, eat..." he passed us a basket of crumpets. "You look dead to your feet. Now then... you will be pleased to hear that we have dealt with the unfortunate blowing up of Miss Marjorie Dursley. Two members of the Accidental Magic Reversal Department were dispatched to Privet Drive a few hours ago. Miss Dursley has been punctured and her memory has been modified. She has no recollection of the incident at all. So that's that, no harm done."

Harry looked at me, clearly still concerned.

"Ah, you're worrying about the reaction of your aunt and uncle?" Fudge asked. "Well I won't deny that they are extremely angry, Harry, but they are prepared to take you back next summer as long as you both stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas and Easter holidays."

"We always stay," Harry said. Then, looking quickly at me, he added "I don't ever want to go back to Privet Drive. Could we live with Elizabeth's godfather? Remus Lupin? He raised her."

"Well," Fudge said with a pained expression, "Elizabeth was raised there under special circumstances. But now she can control her abilities and is therefore meant to live with you at the Dursleys because they're your blood relatives."

"They hate us," I said. "It-it was child abuse to let Harry live there for ten years."

"I'm sure you'll feel differently once you've calmed down," Fudge said reassuringly, making me grit my teeth in mild fury. "They are your family. I'm sure you are fond of each other.. er... very deep down."

I scoffed into my tea, which I masked with a slight cough.

"So all that remains," Fudge continued, "is to decide where you're going to spend the last two weeks of your vacation. I suggest you take a room here at the Leaky Cauldron and-"

"Hang on," Harry said abruptly, "what about my punishment?"

"Punishment?" Fudge asked.

"I broke the law!" Harry said. "The Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry."

"Oh my dear boy, we're not going to punish you for a little thing like that!" Fudge said. "It was a accident! We don't send people to Azkaban for blowing up their aunts!"

Harry sighed, and I patted his hand softly.

"Now, have a crumpet you two, while I go and see if Tom's got a room for you," Fudge said.

I nearly jumped out of my chair when he said that.

"Tom?" I squeaked to Harry. "Who-?"

"That's the barman's name," Harry said. "Surely you didn't think-?"

I held my head in my hands and breathed unsteadily.

I was still, for the lack of a better phrase, fucked up from having been kissed not once, but twice by Voldemort. I felt stupid for letting my attraction to Tom Riddle blind me to the fact he wasn't really trying to help anyone. I felt angry that my first kiss had been stolen by him, that he dared even touch me that way, that he dared try and hurt Ginny and nearly get Harry killed. I had nothing but bitter feelings for Voldemort, which were worse than before. Not only had he murdered my parents, but he'd essentially violated me.

"Don't think of him," Harry said. "Think of... George."

"What?" I said, bewildered.

"I heard Batavia talking," Harry said.

Of course.

"Well it's not important," I said. "He's just my friend."

"Beth," Harry said. "He fancies you. I can tell. George looks at you almost the way Oliver Wood looks at Batavia or the way he looks at the chart in the changing room that marks down when we have a victory."

"He doesn't fancy me," I said. "And-and I don't- I don't think-"

"You fancy him," Harry said. "Just admit it."

I looked at him and narrowed my eyes.

Then I realized I really couldn't deny the feeling anymore. I had to fully embrace it.

I liked George Gideon Weasley. I fancied him. I felt more than just a sort of friendly love for him. I felt something stronger for him. Whenever I looked at him I felt my cheeks grow pink. When he smiled I felt butterflies in my stomach. When I watched him play Quidditch I felt happy, because he was happy.

"Holy Hufflepuff," I whispered. "I really do fancy George Weasley."

Harry grinned, and just then Fudge returned.

"Room's eleven five, Harry and Elizabeth," Fudge said. "I hope you don't mind sharing. I think you'll be very comfortable. Just one thing, and I'm sure you understand... I don't want you wandering off to Muggle London, all right? Keep to Diagon Alley. And you're to be back here before dark each night. Sure you'll understand. Tom will be keeping an eye on you for me.

That name, again. Stupid Tom Riddle. Taking my first kiss. A kiss I had planned on saving to share with someone else. Oh fine, since I've admitted it... a kiss I had planned on saving to share with George. There, I said it.

"Okay," Harry said, snapping me back to reality. "But why?"

"Don't want to lose you again, do we?" Fudge chuckled. "No... no... best we know where you are... well I'll be off. Plenty to do, you know..."

"Have you had any luck with Black yet?" Harry asked suddenly.

"Oh, you've heard," Fudge said, looking nervous. "Well... no no, not yet but it's only a matter of time. The Azkaban guards have never yet failed, and they are angrier than I've ever seen them. So er... I'll say goodbye."

Harry then pulled out his Hogsmeade permission form.

"Er- Minister?" He said. "Well, third years at Hogwarts are allowed to visit Hogsmeade, but my aunt and uncle didn't sign Elizabeth's form last year or this year, and they didn't sign mine either. Do you think you could-?"

"Ah," Fudge said uncomfortably, "no, I'm very sorry, Harry and Elizabeth, but as I'm not your parent or guardian-"

"But you are the Minister of Magic," Harry insisted. "If you have us permission-"

"No, I'm sorry to you both, but rules are rules," Fudge said quickly, putting his coat back on. "Perhaps you'll both be able to visit Hogsmeade next year-"

"That's two years Elizabeth won't have been able to go!" Harry protested. "At least sign hers-"

"I can't, I'm sorry," Fudge said. "In fact, I think it's best if you both don't attend... safer... yes, well I'll be off. Enjoy your stay, Harry and Elizabeth."

I gaped at Harry in disbelief as Fudge left.

"You can't do that with the Minister of Magic!" I said.

"Do what?" Harry said.

"Implore so much and try to make him do us favors," I hissed, pulling him aside so the barman wouldn't hear us. "I've heard straight from Mr Weasley since years ago that Fudge already thinks of us as burdens. We can't pressure him, or he WILL turn against us."

"Oh fine," Harry said. "Let's go upstairs..."

The barman led us upstairs and opened our room for us.

I set up our beds and placed all our books on the provided shelves.

Hedwig perched herself in the corner of the room on an armchair, and slowly dozed off.

"Tonight was weird," Harry mumbled as he climbed into his bed.

"Yeah," I said, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "Try and get some sleep."

"Do you think Black will really try and kill more people?" Harry asked. "He sounds diabolical."

"I'm sure he isn't," I mumbled. "Go to sleep."

"Who's my godfather?" Harry blurted out.

I looked at him, and he gestured for me to tell him.

"You've got one," he said. "I must have one."

"Of course you do," I said. "But... I don't remember who it is. Uncle Remus never spoke of him."

Harry looked at me and shrugged. He turned in his bed to face away from me and began to try and fall asleep.

As I walked back to my bed I struggled to connect the pieces. Sirius Black. The dog. Harry's missing godfather.

Then when the next memory came flooding back, it all made sense.

_"Where's my favorite niece?"_

_"Here!" I squealed, running into the arms of Sirius, who had just been let into the house by my father. He hugged me tight and ruffled my hair._

_"Are you being a good girl?" He asked. "Helping mommy with the baby?"_

_"Yes!" I said. "He's sleeping. He's boring. He doesn't play."_

_"Ah, he will when he gets bigger!" Sirius said. "Now James, you said you wanted to talk to me about something?"_

_"Sirius," my father said, grinning. "Will you be Harry's godfather?"_

_I squealed and hugged Sirius' leg as he whooped and stuck his hand out to my father to shake. My father laughed and hugged him, clapping him on the back._

_"Uncle Sirius!" I said. "Be a doggy!"_

_Sirius pulled away from my father and chuckled. Within seconds he'd transformed into the massive dog with thick, jet black fur. Giggling I climbed onto its back, and it trotted carefully to the kitchen where my mother was._

_"Pads!" She shrieked when she saw us. "She'll fall!"_

_She swooped in and picked me up. I was still giggling, and stretched my hands out to the dog, who turned back into Sirius and laughed as he ruffled my hair again._

Feeling tears in my eyes I gasped as quietly as possible, slowly climbing into my bed.

Sirius Black was the dog. Sirius Black was Harry's godfather. Sirius Black was family.

I looked at Harry, who was now snoring lightly.

I couldn't tell him now. He'd be confused. Besides, if I told him and he asked questions, I'd be unable to answer his questions.

I needed to ask my godfather.

I crept out of bed and to my trunk and popped it open, taking out a few sheets of parchment, some ink, and a quill.

I needed to know why Sirius Black had been at the crime scene that day. I needed to know why my godfather never mentioned him. I needed to know.


	19. Chapter 19

Dear Elizabeth,

It is very pleasant to hear from you. Before I get to what you asked me about, I'd like to let you know that I'll be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts this year. This way I'll be able to keep an eye on you and Harry.

Sirius Black was in fact your father and I's best friend. He was charming, reckless, and selfless. Your memories are correct, in fact I'm astounded that you've managed to recall something that happened when you were only two years old.

I don't know too much of what happened, but I have heard that Sirius betrayed your parents to You Know Who. In turn, they were killed. Peter Pettigrew, another close friend of ours, went to confront him and with a single curse Sirius murdered him and twelve Muggles. The only thing the Ministry found of Peter's was a finger. I share your suspicions that Sirius could have possibly been framed, but there is no evidence that supports it. From what I knew, Peter was the Secret Keeper, and I'm not sure whether your parents changed it at the last second or Peter was in fact the one responsible for their deaths. I'm sorry I cannot answer this question for you. I'm as anxious to know the truth as you are.

I'm going to request that you do not share ANY of this information with Harry. It would destroy him, and I know he would be out for blood if he knew. I repeat, do NOT tell this to Harry.

Now, I am going to tell you what I must as both a Professor and your godfather. Take this very seriously, Elizabeth. STAY AWAY FROM SIRIUS BLACK. Do not go looking for him. As far as we know, he is hunting you and Harry down. We don't know what really happened, and in the off chance that what the Ministry released to the public is true, then you and Harry are in great danger. It was a close enough call when you went to greet the dog out in the Muggle world. As much as you may trust him, do not let that overwhelm you to the point where you go looking for trouble. Just because you are immortal doesn't mean you can't get hurt.

Your memories are incredibly accurate, but just because you see him as a kind man there doesn't mean he still is. As much as I don't want to believe it, it could be true. For the sake of weighing the odds please stay away from him.

I'm looking forward to seeing you. I'll be riding the train on September first, perhaps you and Harry would like to bring your friends to my compartment. It should be large enough for at least ten people.

Best wishes,

Your godfather

I sighed and carefully folded the letter.

I wasn't stupid enough to go LOOKING for Sirius Black. At least now I knew what this whole ordeal was about, and why Fudge was protecting us so much.

For the next few days Harry and I enjoyed freedom like never before. We got to choose when we woke up, what we would eat, and where, and how often. Of course I took charge and made sure we didn't sleep all day and ate decent food (although it was tempting to just eat ice cream three times a day).

Within the first week, Harry and I had a set routine. Wake up at nine, have breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron, go back to our room and grab our homework, go into Diagon Alley and work on our assignments until lunchtime, have lunch at the nearby cafe, then take our homework back to our room and return to Diagon Alley to look around the shops.

Harry was not very good at saving money, so I had to make sure he didn't spend too much. He constantly mentioned things he saw that he wanted, and I'd have to lure him away and remind him that we couldn't go buying solid gold sets of Wizards Chess unless we wanted to leave our vault in Gringotts empty.

However, I have to admit I almost got sucked into it as well. The new Firebolt was released that week, which meant Harry and I had to exercise a lot of self control in the time we spent observing the broom at Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"It's the fastest broom ever," I mumbled. "I'd kill for one of those. I still have a Cleansweep... you have a Nimbus..."

"We should buy it," Harry murmured. "I mean what harm could it do..."

"You know we can't," I sighed. "It's so beautiful though! Tell you what, we'll get you the Firebolt in a few years and then I'll have your Nimbus."

"Sounds like a plan," Harry said, grinning.

In order to restrain ourselves by going broke and purchasing two Firebolts, Harry and I only got as much money as we needed to survive another week then requested the Potter vault be closed until next June.

This meant we got a start on shopping for our necessary school supplies. Harry now needed new robes. I didn't expect I'd grow anymore, which meant my robes would fit me well until seventh year. Harry however, was now taller than me, and had started revealing his ankles under his robes.

As it turned out, the book Hagrid had given Harry was required now for Care of Magical Creatures.

The manager of Flourish and Blotts became irritated when we walked in, and slipped on thick gloves and grabbed a knobbly walking stick and headed to the cage where the Monster Books were.

"We don't need one of those!" I said before the manager got too close. "We've got one."

"One?" The manager said impatiently. "If you're both taking the class-"

"We can share the book," I said. "No trouble..."

"Alright," the manager said, sighing in relief. "What books do you need, boy?"

"Just Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky," Harry said.

"Nothing else?" The manager asked, astonished.

"No," Harry said. "My sister's a year above, she's giving me her old books."

"Ah," the manager said. "And you didn't take Divination, did you, young lady?"

"No," I said. "I wouldn't have had room in my schedule for it."

The manager chuckled and came back with Harry's book.

"Anything else?" He asked.

"Yes please," I said, pulling out my book list and handing it to him. "I need Arithmancy, Level Two and The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Four."

As the manager went to retrieve them, Harry looked at me.

"Arithmancy Level Two?" He asked.

"It's only my second year taking it," I said. "Oh! You might want to send a letter to Hermione telling her I have the Level One Arithmancy book. I expect she's taking it."

Harry nodded, and the manager returned with both books.

We paid and thanked the manager, then left.

The next week was more exciting. By then, we had all our supplies and had finished all our homework. Harry and I spent most days discussing Quidditch strategies with Lex, the manager of Quality Quidditch Supplies, and eating ice cream every now and then at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor (he for some reason always gave us free ice cream).

On the last day of holidays, we packed everything up and explored Diagon Alley one last time. As we were wondering where we'd be having lunch, someone picked me up from behind and spun me around.

Laughing, I was set down by George. Looking at him, I started blushing madly.

"Beth!" He said, hugging me. Fred then pulled him off and hugged me too.

"We got it working!" Fred said.

"Got what working?" I asked.

"Remember that strange piece of parchment we showed you?" George said.

"The one you stole from Filch?" I said.

"Yeah!" Fred said. "We finally got it to reveal its secrets- we'll show you when we get to Hogwarts. It's a map of the whole school and shows where everyone is at all times!"

"Ooh," I said. "I'd like to see that. Now we can find those secret spots where Batavia and Wood snog."

Fred grinned, and George looked at me strangely.

Ron and Hermione came from behind them and hugged us both.

Hi!" Hermione said. "Oh thank you, Beth, for giving me your Arithmancy book!"

"No problem," I said with a grin.

"We've been looking everywhere for you," Ron said. "We went into every shop and no one had seen you-"

"We got all our school stuff last week," Harry said. "And how did you know we were staying at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Dad," the twins said in unison.

"We were planning to go to your room and nick a few things," Fred said.

"Decided against it," George said simply.

"Did you really blow up your aunt, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I didn't mean to," Harry said as Ron and the twins burst out laughing. "I just lost control-"

"It's not funny, you three!" Hermione hissed.

"I'm amazed I wasn't expelled or arrested," Harry said. "Your dad doesn't know why Fudge let me off, does he, Ron?"

"Probably 'cause it's you, isn't it?" Ron said. "Famous Harry Potter and all that. I bet even if Beth had done it they'd let her off. I'd hate to see what the Ministry'd do to me if I blew up my aunt. Mind you, they'd have to dig me up first, because Mum would've killed me. Anyway, you can ask Dad yourself this evening. We're staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight too! So you can come to King's Cross with us tomorrow. Hermione is staying too!"

"You, Ginny, and I should have a sleepover," I said with a grin. Hermione nodded happily, but the twins stared at me indignantly.

"You're not inviting us?" Fred asked. "You always invite us."

"No boys tonight," I said, sticking my tongue out at them.

"I'm hurt," Fred said. "Wonder why she'd deny us the pleasure of a sleepover..."

"You're not girls," I said simply, grinning to Fred. George had not spoken at all, and looked away as I smiled.

"Are you alright, George?" I asked, feeling my stomach do a flip when he looked at me.

"I'm fine," he said simply.

Then he pulled Fred away, making me frown. Why had George said he was so eager to see me if he was hardly speaking to me now?

"I think he fancies you," Ron said simply. "He's been talking about you all summer."

"He should say something," Harry said. "Beth fancies him too."

"You do?" Hermione said excitedly. "Well it's no secret really, the way you look at each other-"

"I do fancy him," I said quietly. "But he doesn't fancy me. He sees me as a sister."

"Trust me, he fancies you," Ron said. "We both grew up with him, Beth, tell me when he's ever looked at a girl the way he looks at you."

"He doesn't look at me any specific way-"

"Yes he does," Harry insisted. "And I think I can tell when someone fancies my sister-"

"You're being silly," I said, my cheeks hot. "George would never fancy me back."

"Oh shut up," Hermione said. "Now let's see, I would like to get an owl. You and Harry have Hedwig and Ron's got Errol-"

"I haven't," Ron said. "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers." He pulled out the rat and I noticed it looked sickly. "I want to get him checked over. I don't think Egypt agreed with him."

"It's a wonder he's even alive," I said. "He's been around since I met you, and garden rats don't even live that long. Whatever you've been feeding him must have some strange magical component..."

"Let's go to the magical creature shop then," Hermione said. "I can get my owl and you can see if they've got anything for Scabbers."

We walked down the street to the creatures shop. Hermione pulled me aside to help her look for an owl.

"I'm certain he fancies you, Beth," she said.

"He couldn't possibly," I said, feeling a strange pain in my chest.

I felt incredibly stupid. I didn't want to be like this, some lovesick girl who was hung up over a boy. I didn't want to feel agonized by the fact I liked him so much or the fact that he'd never fancy me back. I was growing soft, and that was not what Elizabeth Potter did.

"You're so oblivious," Hermione sighed. "If you could just see the way he looks at you... hey Ron! What did they say about Scabbers?"

Ron and Harry walked toward us, Scabbers in hand.

"They just gave me a rat tonic," Ron sighed. "They wanted me to replace him. But I didn't- OUCH!"

An orange cat flew out from the highest cage and landed on Ron's head, then propelled itself to try and eat Scabbers.

I summoned the cat straight into my arms and patted it's head.

The witch at the front came running.

"I'm so sorry!" She cried. "Crookshanks, how could you-?"

"Addy?" I gasped, holding the cat up to my face.

The cat stopped twitching in my arms and stared at me.

"What? His name is Crookshanks," the witch said.

"No!" I said. "HER name is Addy. Harry- this was our cat! This was the cat that you nearly ran over with a broom!"

"What?" Harry said. "You're joking."

"Where did you find this cat?" I asked the witch.

"He-"

"SHE-" I hissed.

"She wandered in here about twelve years ago. No one's wanted to buy him- HER- since."

Smiling, Hermione took the cat.

"You know what?" She said. "Nevermind having an owl. I like this one."

"You're mental!" Ron said. "It's a monster!"

"Didn't you just hear Beth?" Hermione said. "This is her and Harry's old cat. It'll be nice company to have around."

"Really?" I said. "Hermione you don't have to buy it because of that-"

"I want to," she said simply, handing a few Galleons to the witch. "We'll call her Addy."

I grinned as she handed Addy back to me. I patted her head. She was much older now, but still looked very strong.

"You should apologize to Addy, Harry," I said.

"What for?" Harry and Ron said in unison.

"You almost killed her when she was just a kitten by flying around in a toy broom. She deserves an apology."

I plopped the cat into Harry's arms and he stared strangely at it.

"Um," he said. "Sorry..."

"Sorry, Addy," I said firmly.

"Sorry, Addy," Harry repeated. Hermione beamed and took the cat from him, pressing it close to her chest.

Together we all exited the shop and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron, where we found Mr and Mrs Weasley seated at a table with Percy, the twins, and Ginny.

Fred waved happily to me as I passed, but George quickly looked away. Git. Was he even worth my affection? Ah, let's face it, I couldn't stop fancying him even if I tried...

"Harry!" Mrs Weasley said. "Elizabeth! How are you?"

She got up to give us a tight hug.

"Good!" I said. "Hi Mr Weasley!"

"Hello, Elizabeth," he said, smiling.

I moved to hug Ginny, who laughed when I whispered in her ear that she, Hermione, and I should have a sleepover.

"Elizabeth," Percy said happily, reaching his hand out for me to shake. "Good to see you. I hope you're well?"

"I am, thanks," I said.

"Look at him," Fred said, "Head Boy and all."

"So I've heard," I said proudly. "Good job, Percy."

"Yes!" Mrs Weasley said happily from behind, swooping down to kiss Percy's cheek. "Second Head Boy in the family!"

"And last," Fred said under his breath.

"I don't doubt that," Mrs Weasley said, frowning. "I notice you two haven't been made prefects."

"What do we want to be prefects for?" George said. "It'd take all the fun out of life."

I burst out laughing, and George quickly looked away from me, which made me shut up in an instant, leaving Ginny to giggle on her own.

"You want to set a better example for your sister!" Mrs Weasley snapped.

"Sisters," Fred corrected her. "Besides, I bet Beth and Ginny can both become prefects-"

"-and they've got other brothers to set them an example, Mother," Percy said loftily. "I'm going up to change for dinner."

Harry came over, amused at what had been said.

"Ah," Fred said to him. "We tried to shut him in a pyramid-"

"-but Mum spotted us," George said. I laughed slightly, but stopped when George quickly looked at me then looked away.

"Fred dear," I said sweetly, gripping Fred by the arm and hoisting him up. "I need to talk to you."

I pulled him aside and sat down at a table where George would still be able to see us.

"What is wrong with him?" I hissed. "He will hardly look at me. And it all started when I mentioned as a joke that we could find out where Batavia and Wood snogged. I fancy him, Fred. I do! This is ridiculous, and it's bothering me."

"Ah, so you fancy him," Fred said, grinning. "Well he's just being a git because he fancies you too."

"He couldn't possibly fancy me," I said. "Maybe I just got annoying-"

"You, annoying?" Fred said. "HE was annoying. Wouldn't shut up about seeing you again all summer. He definitely fancies you, Beth. He's just too shy to do anything about it."

"I still don't believe it," I mumbled.

"Why not?" Fred said. "You should see the way he looks at you-"

"EVERYONE says that!" I said, throwing my hands up. "Everyone says he looks at me a certain way but the only thing I'm seeing is him REFUSING to look at me and not speaking to me."

"He fancies you!" Fred hissed. "He's never fancied another girl in his life, he doesn't know what to do! Why is it so hard for you to believe that? He- he almost fought Adrian Pucey for your sake! And he punched Malfoy for you! He caught you and carried you to the Hospital Wing after you fell off your broom during Quidditch last year when that Bludger was chasing you and Harry. He kept trying to kiss you under the mistletoe, and he sends you more letters than he does to anyone else, even Lee! That anonymous letter you got on Valentine's Day? That was from him! He fancies you, Beth! And he's being awkward because now, we're fifteen, and we're ALLOWED to have girlfriends! When you mentioned snogging he probably thought of the fact that he wants to snog you! He's probably planning on asking you to be his girlfriend and just doesn't know how!"

I stared, dumbfounded at Fred, and found my cheeks were on fire.

Fred grinned, and shook his head. "You're just as oblivious as him. He doesn't think you fancy him, either. Come on, let's go back to our family..."

Still at a loss for words, I followed him back to the table.

"So," Fred said as he sat down, "How're we getting to King's Cross, tomorrow, Dad?"

"The Ministry's providing a couple of cars," Mr Weasley said.

"Why?" Percy asked.

"It's because of you, Perce," George said. "And there'll be little flags on the hoods, with HB on them-"

"-for Humongous Bighead," Fred added.

I snorted into my pudding like everyone else. George looked at me again and then looked away, which made me slightly angry. Everything Fred said made sense, and I really could imagine that George MIGHT fancy me, but with him acting like this I just wasn't sure.

"Why are the Ministry providing cars, Father?" Percy asked, ignoring the twins facial expressions.

"Well as we haven't got one anymore," Mr Weasley said quietly, "and as I work there, they're doing me a favor."

"Good thing too," Mrs Weasley said. "Do you realize how much luggage you've all got between you? A nice sight you'd be on the Muggle Underground... You're all packed, aren't you?"

"Ron hasn't put all his new things in his trunk yet," Percy said. "He dumped them on my bed."

"You better go pack properly Ron, because we won't have time in the morning," Mrs Weasley said.

Shortly after, everyone began heading slowly upstairs.

I double checked that Harry and I were all packed and ready to depart tomorrow. Then, through the wall, we heard angry voices in the next room.

Harry and I walked into find Percy shouting.

"It was here, on the bedside table, I took it off for polishing!" Percy snarled.

"I haven't touched it, alright?" Ron snapped back.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"My Head Boy badge is gone!" Percy said.

"So's Scabber's rat tonic!" Ron said. "I think I might have left it in the bar-"

"You're not going anywhere till you've found my badge!" Percy roared.

"Shut up!" I hissed, holding my hands out and summoning Percy's badge and Ron's rat tonic. I shoved both into their hands.

"Thank you, Elizabeth," Percy said stiffly.

"Thanks Beth," Ron said quietly.

Shaking my head, I pulled Harry out of the room.

"I can't believe them," I said. "Making a big deal over it when I could just-"

"Listen!" Harry said, going halfway down the stairs and listening to what was being said down in the bar.

I crept up beside him and recognized Mr and Mrs Weasley's voices.

"-makes no sense not to tell them!" Mr Weasley said. "Especially Elizabeth, she saw her parents die, Molly, she most of all has the right to know. I've tried to tell Fudge but he insists on treating her and Harry like children-"

"Arthur, the truth would terrify them!" Mrs Weasley cried. "Do you really want to send them back to school with that hanging over them? For heaven't sake, they're happy not knowing-"

"I don't want to make them miserable, I want to put them on their guard," Mr Weasley said. "You know what Harry and Ron are like, especially! Wandering off by themselves- they've ended up in the Forbidden Forest twice! But Harry mustn't do that this year! When I think what could have happened to them that night they ran away from home! If the Knight Bus hadn't picked them up I'm prepared to bet they'd have been dead before the Ministry found them!"

"But they're not dead, Arthur! And you couldn't tell them for that reason! Elizabeth would try and do something about it, you know her, and she could get hurt even if she is immortal!"

"Molly, they say Sirius Black's mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that's supposed to be impossible. It's been three weeks and no one's seen hide nor hair of him, and I don't care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we're no nearer catching Black than inventing self spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is what Black's after."

"But Harry and Elizabeth will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts-"

"We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts."

"But no one's really sure that Black is after Harry or Elizabeth-"

"Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn't report it in the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Blacks been talking in his sleep for awhile now, saying 'He's at Hogwarts' over and over. He's deranged, Molly, and he wants to kill Harry and Elizabeth. If you ask me, he thinks murdering Harry and Elizabeth will bring You Know Who back to power. Black lost everything the night Harry stopped You Know Who, and he's had twelve years alone in Azkaban to brood on that..."

There was a pause, and Harry looked at me, his eyes wide.

"Well, Arthur, you must do what you think is right. But you're forgetting Albus Dumbledore. I don't think anything could hurt Harry and Elizabeth at Hogwarts while Dumbledore's headmaster-"

"Elizabeth was kidnapped by a boy in a diary and Harry nearly died fighting a basilisk last year, Molly!"

I heard Mrs Weasley sighed. "Alright. I suppose Dumbledore knows about all this, then?"

"Yes. We had to ask him if he minds the Azkaban guards stationing themselves around the entrances to the school grounds. He wasn't happy about it, but he agreed."

"Not happy? Why shouldn't he be happy, if they're there to catch Black?"

"Dumbledore isn't fond of the Azkaban guards," Mr Weasley said in a pained voice. "Nor am I. But when you're dealing with a wizard like Black, you sometimes have to join forces with those you'd rather avoid. If they save Harry and Elizabeth then I will never say another word against them. It's late, Molly, we'd better go up..."

Harry and I darted carefully back upstairs, invisible the instant I grabbed his hand.

In our room we found Fred and George waiting.

"Beth!" Fred said. George didn't look up at me.

"What's up?" I asked.

"You summoned the badge right out of our hands," he said. "We were improving it so it could read Bighead Boy."

"Ah, sorry," I said. "Didn't know. We're going to bed now, I think the sleepover is off since Ginny hasn't finished packing."

"Okay," Fred said, grinning. "Goodnight."

I waved at them, and George gave me a small wave in return.

"GOODNIGHT, George," I snapped.

Fred grinned, and George looked at me, bewildered.

"Don't think I haven't noticed you ignoring me, you prick," I hissed.

George looked at me sheepishly. "Sorry. Erm... goodnight Beth."

Rolling my eyes when they walked out, I shut the door.

"He fancies you," Harry said in a sing song voice.

"No he doesn't," I said, changing into my pajamas. Harry sighed loudly.

"Sirius Black is after us, then," he said.

Of course I already knew this was a possibility thanks to what my godfather had said, but I couldn't reveal that.

"We'll be fine," I said.

"Yeah, we'd be at Hogwarts," Harry said. "It's the safest place there is.."

He climbed into bed and began to try falling asleep. Sighing lightly, I climbed into my bed and lay on my side.

Sirius Black couldn't possibly be after us. He loved Harry and I too much for that. If I could prove that with my memories, I would.


	20. Chapter 20

The next morning I woke Harry up early to triple check that everything was ready and get dressed.

Ron barged in once Harry and I began to drag our trunks outside.

"The sooner we get on the train, the better," he groaned. "At least I can get away from Percy at Hogwarts. Now he's accusing me of dripping tea on his photo of Penelope Clearwater. His girlfriend. She's hidden her face under the frame because her nose has gone all blotchy..."

Just then the twins entered the room.

"Ron!" Fred said.

"Heard you infuriated Percy again," George said, grinning.

"Shut up," Ron said, turning pink.

"Goodmorning, Beth," George said, looking at me.

"We're talking now?" I asked. "Because as I recall yesterday-"

"Yes we're talking now," he said. "Sorry."

"Okay," I said, dragging my trunk out the door and downstairs.

After a very quick breakfast it took quite

a bit of effort to get all the trunks and three owl cages (Hermes, Errol, and Hedwig) out the Leaky Cauldron door and into the Ministry cars.

"It's all right, Addy," Hermione cooed into a small wickerwork basket. "I'll let you out on the train."

"You won't," Ron said, pointing at his chest pocket where Scabbers resided. "What about poor Scabbers?"

"Addy won't hurt him," I said. "She just wants to play. She never really liked eating rats."

Ron rolled his eyes as Mr Weasley urged us into the cars.

Once we arrived at King's Cross, Mr Weasley insisted we go through the barrier in pairs.

I was going for Harry, but George swooped in and linked our arms.

"Hello," I said stiffly.

"Are you mad?" He asked. "Sorry, Beth, I was just feeling er.. sick last night."

"Hmm," I said, pulling him through the barrier.

We waited by the entrance until the rest of the family had arrived.

"Ah, there's Penelope!" Percy said, smoothing his hair back and going slightly pink as he walked toward the familiar Ravenclaw girl.

George and I looked at each other, scrunched up our noses, and snickered.

"Alright everyone," I said once Harry, Ron, and Hermione came nearer. "My godfather is on the train and I want to sit with him."

"Uncle Remus?" Harry asked. "He's here?"

"Yes," I said. "Come on."

I led them down the train toward the larger compartments. We found my godfather inside one, sleeping.

I carefully placed everyone's trunks in the racks and urged the trio in first. Ginny went to find her friends, and Fred suggested we find Batavia, Bixby, Lee, and Katie.

George came with us as we searched the rest of the compartments. We finally found Batavia and Bixby in a compartment with Oliver Wood.

Bixby was looking at us so happily when we arrived that I nearly snorted.

"Hey Batavia, Bixby, Wood," I said. "Want to sit with us?"

"I do," Bixby piped up, exiting the compartment quickly.

"I'm staying here with Oliver," Batavia said. "But good to see you all!"

I nodded and closed the compartment door.

"He came to America with us AGAIN!" Bixby groaned, making Fred and George snicker. "And now Batavia has some strange plan to spend every waking minute with him because he's graduating this year."

"Ohh that's right, isn't it?" I said. "He's graduating... looks like we're going to need a new Captain."

"And a new manager," George said. "Batavia won't stay if Wood is gone."

"Fuck," I said. "I reckon she's going to be miserable next year without him."

"No more snogging in dark corners," Bixby said, shivering. "Maybe I can have my sister back..."

I laughed. "I really doubt that. Reckon they'll still be boyfriend and girlfriend after he graduates?"

"Yes," Bixby said. "They can't break up at this rate, it's impossible. My parents are already certain that Batavia's found 'the One.' This is bullshit, my mother thinks she'd like Wood and Batavia to get married the instant we graduate..."

Fred, George, and I laughed. We found Katie and her boyfriend in the next compartment we peeked into, and to Bixby's dismay their lips were locked together.

"I hate Vance Eldrich," Bixby snarled as we moved past that compartment.

"He's nice enough," Fred said.

"Besides, if you like her, make a move," George said.

I stared in disbelief at him, and almost retorted "says the one who won't do it!"

Fred looked at me and rolled his eyes, blinking three times fast.

" _Wouldja listen to him? This is ridiculous, him giving advice he won't follow himself. He fancies youuuu-"_

Snapping myself out of his mind I rolled my eyes back at him and shook my head.

"There's Lee!" Bixby said. "Finally someone that makes me happy-"

Fred, George, and I snorted.

"That was heartbreaking, Bixby," Fred said. "What are we?"

"Oh I didn't mean it like that," Bixby said. "Seeing you all makes me happy but so does seeing Lee. Ugh. Seeing Batavia and Wood, then Katie and Eldrich-"

"Don't worry," I said. "We'll collect Lee then go to our compartment and play Exploding Snap or something."

Fred nodded and cupped his hands around his mouth. "OY! LEE!"

Several people stuck their nosy heads out of their compartments and then went back inside once Lee came sprinting down fo meet us.

"I thought I'd never find you!" He said. "You weren't at our usual compartment..."

"We're sitting with Beth's godfather," Fred said. "He's sleeping though..."

"Your godfather?" Lee asked me.

"He's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," I said. Lee grinned.

"Awesome," he said. "Hey but if he's sleeping... we might be too loud."

"It's fine," I said. "He told me to invite you guys to sit there with him. I expect he's just tired. Last night would've been very rough for him."

"Why's that?" George asked.

Two nights ago there had been a full moon. That day and yesterday were the roughest for him, and he was likely so exhausted he might sleep the whole way.

Whenever he'd had such nights, I'd always stayed at the Weasleys. The twins didn't know he was a werewolf, and I wasn't about to reveal it to everyone.

"Just the fact he's becoming a Professor," I lied smoothly. "It's been his dream for awhile. He's all nervous he won't be very good at it, or something."

"As long as he isn't a best selling fraud or a bloke with You Know Who the back of his head, I reckon he should be fine," George said, which made me smile.

When we got back to my godfather's compartment, a strange whistling sound filled the air.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Bixby asked, covering his ears.

"It's the Sneakoscope Ron gave me," Harry said, shoving it in a sock.

"Yeah, mind you, it's a very cheap one," Ron said. "It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry."

"Maybe because you weren't supposed to be using Errol," Fred said, sitting down next to Ron. I sat next to Harry, and George plopped down next to me.

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," Ron suggested as Harry shoved it in his trunk.

"They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff."

"You owe that knowledge to us," George piped up.

"Do you know much about Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked. "I've read it's the only entirely non Muggle settlement in Britain."

"I think it is," Lee said.

"But that's not why I want to go," Ron said. "I just want to get inside Honey Dukes."

"What's that?" Hermione asked.

"What's that, she asks," Fred said. "Only one of the most incredible sweetshops ever!"

They've got everything," George said. "Pepper Imps- they make you smoke at the mouth- and great fat Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream-"

"Don't forget the sugar quills!" Lee said. "They're excellent. You can suck in class and just look like you're thinking what to write next-"

"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it?" Hermione asked. "In Sites of Historical Sorcery, it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain-"

"- and massive sherbert balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them," Lee finished.

I sighed dreamily, wondering whether I'd ever be able to go.

"Won't it be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?" Hermione said to Harry.

"'Spect it will," Harry said sadly. "You'll have to tell me when you've found out."

Hermione stared at us in disbelief.

"What do you mean?" Bixby asked, looking at me as well.

"The Dursleys didn't sign our permission slips again," I said.

"And Fudge wouldn't either," Harry added miserably.

"You're not allowed to come?" Ron asked in disbelief. "But Beth you already didn't go last year and- no way, McGonagall or someone will give you permission-"

"Well look who it is."

We all whipped around to look at the compartment door.

"The Pottys and Weasels," Draco Malfoy said nastily, his henchmen chuckling behind him.

"Get lost, Malfoy," I hissed.

Ignoring me, he continued. "I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasleys. Did your mother die of shock?"

Fred, George, and Ron shot up. This caused Addy's basket to be knocked down. She mewed loudly and my godfather snorted slightly in his sleep.

Malfoy stepped back when he saw my godfather. "Who's that?"

"My godfather," I said coldly. "New Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. What were you saying, Malfoy?"

Malfoy narrowed his eyes, clearly not going to pick a fight under a teacher's nose.

"Cmon," he hissed to his goons.

"I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year," Ron snapped. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about m family, I'm going to get hold of his head and-"

"Fuck him up," I said.

"Elizabeth Lily Potter!"

I jumped as my godfather straightened up, wide awake.

"Hi," I squeaked as everyone in the compartment muffled their laughter.

"Hello, Elizabeth," he said, looking at me with false sternness. Then he smiled and pulled me into a hug. "You've grown quite a bit."

"Not as much as Harry has," I said as my godfather pulled him in for a hug as well. "He was showing off his ankles under last year's robes just a week ago."

My godfather laughed. "Well hello everyone. Professor Remus John Lupin. I'll be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

All my friends shook his hand, and seemed to like him already.

An idea came into my head.

"Uncle Remus," I said, "would you by any chance be able to sign our permission slips for Hogsmeade?"

"Oh!" Harry said, suddenly excited.

"Maybe then you can come with us to Zonko's, Beth!" George said happily.

My godfather took the parchment I handed to him and nodded.

"I can sign it for you," he said. "But not for your brother."

"What?" I said. "Why not Harry?"

"I never was his guardian, and am not his godfather," he said.

The compartment went quiet.

"Then it's alright," I sighed, taking the permission slip back. "We'll just hang out with you on Hogsmeade days. Then Harry can try and beat you at Wizard's Chess and you can show him your model of the solar system -"

"I'm sorry, Harry," my godfather cut in, seeing the grim expression on Harry's face. "If I could sign it, I would."

"It's alright," Harry said, although I could tell he felt the same as me. Bummed out.

My godfather looked stricken with guilt, and opened his mouth to speak-

"Bixby," I piped up, "tell us about your summer."

Bixby got talking about everything he and Batavia (and Wood) had done in America, and I saw my godfather shoot me a grateful smile. I could tell he'd been about to apologize more, and felt really bad he couldn't sign Harry's slip.

We talked and played Exploding Snap for the rest of the trip, occasionally pausing to tell my godfather bits and pieces about our summers or what we might learn this year in his class. Hermione was especially intrigued when he said the first lesson would be a surprise.

"We must be nearly there," Bixby sighed after awhile, looking out the now completely black window. "And ah, it's not raining as hard anymore... I'm starving-"

The train suddenly began to slow down.

"What?" Hermione said. "We can't possibly be there yet."

"Then why are we stopping?" I asked uncertainly.

I got up to check it out but George pushed me back onto my seat. Scowling, I let Harry peek out.

"There isn't anything out there that I can see," he said.

The train came to a complete stop with a powerful jolt, and several screams and thuds let us know that luggage had fallen out in other compartments.

Then without warning, the lights went out.

Out of impulse I grabbed George's hand. He clutched it tightly in return, and rubbed my hand slightly with his thumb to comfort me.

"What is going ON?" Bixby demanded.

"Bixby you stepped on me!" Hermione whined.

"Sorry!" Bixby said.

"The bloody cat just sat on my feet!" Ron said.

"Addy," I said, trying to be calm. She leapt onto my lap and sat down. I moved George's hand to pet her, and felt myself calm down when he let go of my hand to put his arm around me, then holding my hand again with his other hand.

Of course the butterflies in my stomach decided to leap around like maniacs. But he was probably just doing it because I was scared..

A dim outline of my godfather peeked out the window along with Harry.

"Something is moving out there," Harry whispered. "I think people are coming aboard."

"That isn't right," my godfather mumbled.

The compartment door slid open and someone fell in.

"Ouch!" I hissed.

"Sorry!" The familiar voice of Neville Longbottom sajd. "D'you know what's going on? Ouch- sorry-"

"Hullo, Neville," Harry said. I felt Neville's body be lifted off my legs.

"Harry?" He called. "Is that you? What's happening?"

"No idea," Fred said. "Sit down, Neville."

A small squeak and yelp of pain later I deduced Fred had pulled Neville to sit down and had almost caused him to sit on Scabbers, who had been resting on the cushion.

"Damn it, Scabbers!" Ron called. "Beth, can you-?"

"Mhm," I said, summoning Scabbers into my hand. I shoved it forward, and heard a groan of pain.

"That hit me in the face!" Bixby groaned. "Here's your rat... Ron..."

"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," Hermione said impatiently. I heard her get up and open the compartment door, then a loud thud and a squeal of pain as another body fell into our compartment.

"Hermione!" Ginny's voice said.

"Ginny?" George called.

"George!" She said.

"Ouch!" Fred said. "Ginny you must've broken my ankle-"

"Shut up, Fred-" then she yelped as he yanked her into a seat.

Then there was a soft crackling noise, and we all went dead silent. My godfather lit the compartment then, flames flickering over his hands.

"Stay were you are," he said slowly. "It sounds like something is coming, I'm going to-"

The door slid open before he even got a chance to get up.

In the doorway, illuminated by the silver flames in my godfather's hand, was a cloaked figure that was as tall as the ceiling. I squeezed George's hand and he pulled me closer to him. I heard him breathing unsteadily.

The hooded figure let out a hoarse, slow, rattling breath, and stuck its hand out.

The compartment became unbearably freezing, and I whimpered slightly as I felt my whole body go rigid. I felt my breath catch in my chest, and felt as though my heart was being ripped out.

I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head. I gasped, feeling as though I was drowning. There was a loud scream, a scream that was all too familiar. Then my vision went black and I felt my body collapse on the floor.

I woke up to someone shaking me and grabbing my face.

"Get off-"

"Elizabeth! Wake up! Oh Harry- wake them up!"

I groaned and opened my eyes, and felt an immense sense of dizziness when I looked up and saw the lanterns were on and felt the train was moving.

"Elizabeth!" Bixby said, shaking me. "Are you okay?"

"Get off me," I said, trying to get up. George slipped his arms around my waist and hoisted me up to sit down.

"Here," my godfather said, shoving some chocolate into my mouth. "And you too, Harry. Eat. You'll feel better."

"Who screamed?" Harry asked.

"No one screamed," Ron said nervously.

"It was Mum," I said.

The compartment went completely silent.

"What did you say, Beth?" Lee said uncertainly.

"It was our mum screaming," I said. "I remember it."

Harry looked at me, bewildered. He turned to my godfather. "Uncle Remus, what was that thing?"

"It was a dementor," my godfather said. "One of the dementors of Azkaban."

He handed me more chocolate, then began distributing it to everyone else.

"Eat," he insisted. "It'll help. Now I need to speak to the driver, excuse me."

He exited the compartment, and Hermione looked fearfully at Harry and I.

"Are you sure you're both okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine now," I said. "What happened, though?"

"Well it looked at you first, Beth," George said. "And then at Harry... you both sort of went rigid and fell out if your seats and started twitching. Then Professor Lupin stepped over you and pulled his wand out and walked to the dementors. He said 'None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.' But the dementor wouldn't leave, so he muttered something and a silvery thing shot out of his wand and the dementor then glided away."

"It was horrible," Neville said, making me jump since I'd forgotten he was there. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"

"I felt weird," Bixby said. "Like I'd never be cheerful again."

"You're never cheerful," Fred said.

"Did nobody else fall out of their seats then?" I asked.

"No," Ron said. "Ginny was shaking like mad though..."

In the corner, Ginny softly took a bite out of the chocolate.

"Why did we hear Mum?" Harry asked.

"Dementors essentially feed off our pain, our misery, our sadness," I said. "You and I've got a lot of it. I suppose the memory of hearing her scream rushed back to you then."

Harry shivered, and my godfather came back into the compartment.

"We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes," he said. "Are you two feeling better?"

"A bit, yes," I said.

And we would've felt better knowing that no one else would find out about us fainting, but we were in no such luck.

"You fainted, Potters?" Malfoy asked nastily as we stepped out of the carriages. "Is Longbottom telling the truth? You actually fainted?"

"Yeah," I said through gritted teeth.

"Shove off, Malfoy," George snapped, moving in front of me.

"Did you faint as well, Weasley?" Malfoy sneered at him. "Did the scary old dementor frighten you too?"

"I could ask you the same question, Malfoy," George hissed. "Just because you and your friends won't admit it doesn't mean you weren't screaming like a little girl when that thing appeared."

Malfoy turned slightly pink. George turned back to me and grinned.

"Is there a problem here?" My godfather asked from behind.

"Oh no, Professor," Malfoy said, rushing away with his goons.

"Stupid arse," I hissed to him.

"Language, Elizabeth," my godfather said, smiling from the corner of his mouth as he went ahead into the castle.

As soon as we entered the entrance hall, McGonagall called us away.

"Potters! Granger!" She called. "I need to see you three!"

I looked at Lee, George, Fred, and Bixby and shrugged.

"I'll come," George offered, which made my cheeks grow red.

We walked over to where McGonagall was.

"I just want a word in my office," she said. "Move along there, Weasley."

"Is it alright if he comes?" I asked.

"Well, alright," McGonagall sighed.

She led us up the marble staircase and straight to her office. Inside, Madam Pomfrey was waiting.

"Your godfather send us an owl ahead to say you and Harry were taken ill on the train," McGonagall said.

"We're better now," I said. "He gave us chocolate."

"Did he? So we've finally got a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies?" Madam Pomfrey said. "Excellent. Oh but setting dementors around school! You two won't be the last ones that collapse... terrible things they are... and the effect they have on people who are already delicate..."

"We aren't delicate," I said as George raised an eyebrow.

"What?" I said.

"You get hospitalized once a year," he said. "That's not normal."

"Exactly!" Madam Pomfrey said. "But I didn't mean anything by it, dear. I recommend some more chocolate."

"Are you sure you both feel alright?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes," Harry and I said in unison.

"Very well," she said. "Kindly wait outside while I have a quick word with Miss Granger about her course schedule, the we can go down to the feast together."

A few minutes later, McGonagall and Hermione exited and we made our way down to the Gryffindor table, sitting near our friends.

"You missed the Sorting," Bixby said. "Some first year nearly cried when she got put in Ravenclaw, heard her saying she's going to die of fatigue or something..."

I laughed, and noticed George was staring intently at me.

"What?" I said, still smiling.

"Nothing," George said, grinning, which made the butterflies bounce for joy. "Look, Dumbledore is going to speak..."

"Welcome!" Dumbledore said, taking his place on the podium. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it's best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast.

"As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business.

"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises, or even Invisibility Cloaks."

"Damn," I said, as I saw Dumbledore look at Harry and I, his eye twinkling.

George snickered, and I felt the butterflies flutter again.

"It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warm each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul with the dementors.

"On a happier note, I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

I clapped loudly along with everyone else who had been in our compartment. My godfather stood up and waved slightly. Snape glared daggers at him.

"As to our second new appointment, well I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

I cheered even louder this time, smiling and waving to Hagrid as he stood up awkwardly.

"Well I think that's everything of importance," Dumbledore said. "Let the feast begin!"

The plates in front of us instantly filled with food, and I dug in happily. Batavia began to spoonfeed Oliver, and Bixby and I gagged playfully.

After dinner we headed back to the Common Room. I was then cornered by George, who led me to the window.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Are you sure you're okay?" George asked, gripping me strongly by the shoulders.

"I'm fine, don't worry," I said. "I just fainted. Worse things have happened to me."

George sighed. He moved so that he was really close to me, our faces inches away.

Breathing heavily I looked into his eyes. Quite honestly, I expected him to lean in and kiss me, but I think that might've been to cliché for him, because he cleared his throat and pulled away.

"Just let me know if you er- need anything," he said.

Then he let go of my shoulders and walked upstairs.

Since there was no one but Bixby and Fred in the Common Room (they'd been watching intently though), I hissed and slapped the wall with one hand.

"You alright, Beth?" Bixby asked.

"It's him!" I spat. "Everyone says he likes me and I almost believed it, but then he goes and does something like that! WHY? It's annoying! And it's agonizing! What's wrong with him?"

"He's an idiot," Fred said. "He doesn't know how to approach a girl-"

"Yes he does!" I shrieked. "Because he can flirt with me and be sweet without any trouble! He tried to get me to kiss him last year, for Merlin's sake! Why does he play my emotions like that only to walk away?"

Fred and Bixby had no response to this.

I sighed and leaned against the wall, sinking down to the floor.

"If he doesn't get his shit together I'm going to end up fancying someone else," I said, my voice shaky. "I'm not going to wait for him much longer. And that is going to be sad for him, because I have NEVER felt this for any other boy. I've been nothing but... almost in love with him for almost two years now! And he supposedly likes me but just keeps walking away like I'm nothing more than a sister to him! He's close to losing me as a potential girlfriend, you guys. He's on thin fucking ice."


	21. Chapter 21

It seemed that fainting was a bad thing or something because the Slytherins made such a big joke about it that I almost wondered whether any of them had ever actually fainted before.

"Hey Potter!" She'd shrieked. "Potter! The dementors are coming, Potter! Wooooooo!"

"Hey Parkinson!" I snapped. "A mirror is coming! Careful not to get cut on the glass when you break it!"

The Gryffindors roared with laughter, which made Parkinson look so furious that she resembled an angry dog.

"New schedules!" Batavia chirped, swooping down to peck Wood on the lips then handing us our schedules. "What's wrong, Beth?"

"Parkinson and Malfoy over there find it amusing that we fainted," I said.

"They're gits," Wood said. "Should've seen Malfoy last night. Wasn't so cocky then. When the dementors were down at our end of the train he came running into our compartment with that pug. Both of them nearly wet themselves."

"Ha!" I said, looking at George. "You were right that he refused to admit he screamed like a little girl..."

"Wait Batavia, Wood," Harry said, leaning over the table. "Did either of you faint?"

"Batavia nearly did," Wood said. "I felt horrible too, like I'd never be happy again. My insides were... frozen."

"Forget it, Harry," George said. "Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? And he said it was the worst place he'd ever been. Came back all weak and shaking... those dementors suck the happiness out of everywhere. Most prisoners go mad in there."

"Anyways, we'll see how happy Malfoy looks after our first Quidditch game," Fred said. "Gryffindor versus Slytherin is the first game of the season."

"Yes!" I said. "I'd love to see the look on Marcus Flint's face when we beat them."

"Flint's still here?" Bixby asked.

"He flunked," Wood said. "Failed all his NEWTs."

"I could sing," I said. "Ah, look, we have Potions first. No more singing."

Everyone at the table laughed, and I gathered my things to head to Potions with the twins and Lee, who was excited for their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson after lunch.

"I don't have my godfather for class until tomorrow," I said. "I do have Care of Magical Creatures before lunch though, I'll be pleased to see what Hagrid teaches us."

We walked into Potions and found Snape was in his usual foul mood.

"Before we start today's lesson," he said, "I think it is appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'Acceptable' in your OWL or suffer my displeasure.

"After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me. I take only the very best into my NEWT potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying goodbye."

"Goodbye in advance," George said under his breath as Snape looked over at fifth year Gryffindor Jeremy Vance, who somehow always messed his Potions up to the point that he nearly killed us all.

"But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell," Snape said slowly. "So whether you are intending to attempt NEWT or not, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high pass level I have come to expect from my OWL students.

"Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at OWL time, the Draught of Peace. It is a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. Be warned: If you are too heavy handed with the ingredients, you will put the drinker into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep. You will need to pay close attention to what you are doing."

I got to work immediately, and Fred and George looked at me uncertainly as they stared at the instructions.

"Follow them exactly," I said, hurrying over to the supplies closet to get my ingredients.

"A light silvery vapor should be rising from your cauldrons," Snape said, when the hour was nearly over.

My potion was past that stage. George's was coming along alright, and was where Snape said it should be, but Fred and Lee were anxious since their potions were strangely green.

"I don't think you added the hellebore," I said.

Snape swooped over, and stared at me.

"You are finished, Miss Potter?" He asked.

"Yes," I said, filling a flagon with some of the potion and handing it to him.

Looking at me curiously he took it and went to his desk. I peered nervously across the room and saw him put it to the test with a few wild rats he had in a cage. The rat he administered it to immediately calmed down and decided to go to sleep.

Snape came back and handed me the flagon, smiling faintly.

"Very well done, Miss Potter," he said. He looked over George's potion, and found nothing to critique. But when he got to Fred and Lee he frowned. "Pathetic, Mr Weasley and Mr Jordan! Ten points from Gryffindor. We clearly will be saying goodbye in June since you cannot even read the instructions properly-"

"It's a common mistake though, Professor," I cut in sharply. "You told us yourself last year, that this step is always easiest to miss in all the Draughts that use hellebore because it is always in between two steps that have lots of components in it."

George was staring at me incredulously, and Snape seemed to be debating whether he should expel me or kill me.

"I don't take cheek, Miss Potter," he said. "As you are done, clean your supplies up. I do not want you running your mouth in my class again."

And with that he walked away, which made Fred and Led groan.

"This favoritism thing is stupid!" Lee said. "Why couldn't I be the favorite?"

"I have red hair too," Fred said. "It's because I'm a boy, isn't it? Or because I'm taller?"

"Excuse me?" I said. "You're going to insult my height now? What a prick."

Fred grinned, and I saw George looked at me, quickly turning away when I glanced back at him. Behind him, Fred made a kissy face and winked three times fast.

" _He fancies you! Don't give up yet, Beth, give him time_."

I rolled my eyes and exited his mind, heading out the door to Care of Magical Creatures just as the bell rang.

I found Bixby, Batavia, and Katie waiting by Hagrid's hut.

"I'm so excited!" Bixby said. "Remember the dragon? I want him to have a dragon here for us."

"He can't bring a dragon, you prat," Batavia said, which made Bixby scowl at her.

"Alrigh' everyone!" Hagrid said, coming out of his hut. "Follow me! Got a good lesson fer yeh today!"

He led us near the edge of the forest and then around a sort of paddock, with nothing inside.

"Gather 'round the fence here!" He said. "Now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books."

"How do we do that?" Katie asked. "They keep biting us."

Hagrid looked crestfallen. "Yeh've got ter stroke them. Look-"

He took Katie's book and stroked its spine. The book made a strange purring sound and then fell open, laying quietly in his hand.

"This whole time I just needed to pet it?" Katie cried. "And I thought I needed some sort of spell.. thanks Hagrid!"

"Didn't your boyfriend try to help you open it?" Bixby asked in a rather nasty tone as he aggressively began to stroke the book.

"No," Katie said bitterly. "He's been an arse lately, isn't really paying attention to me."

"Break up with him," Bixby said immediately, popping his book open as Batavia and I shared a concerned look.

"I just might," Katie said irritably. "It's annoying, really."

Bixby looked pleased, and I swear he patted the book out of how happy he was.

"Now turn ter the page abou' Hippogriffs," Hagrid said.

"Hippogriffs?" Bixby asked, his eyes wide. He looked like Christmas had come early. "Oh Hagrid you're my new favorite teacher."

Batavia and I couldn't handle it anymore, and burst out laughing.

"He is mighty excited, isn't he?" Hagrid said, chuckling as well. "Now- come ou', Buckbeak!"

From the back of the paddock, a large creature came towards us. it had the body and hind legs of a horse, but the front legs, wings, and head of a giant eagle. The talons were enormous, and probably deadly. It was beautiful.

"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"

"Yes!" Bixby sighed.

"He's in looove," Katie said, which made Batavia look excitedly between Bixby and Katie.

"So," Hagrid said. "Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriffs is, they're proud. Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, cause it might be the last thing yeh do. Yeh always wait fer a hippogriff ter make the firs' move. It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed to touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him quickly, 'cause those talons hurt."

He looked at us excitedly. "Right, who wants ter go first?"

"Me!" Bixby said, walking up slowly.

Beaming, Hagird untied one of the chains around Buckbeak and slipped off its leather collar.

"Easy now, Bixby," Hagrid said. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink... Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much..."

Batavia and Katie both covered their mouths with their hands.

"Bixby has problems with his eyes!" Batavia said fearfully. "He's got really dry eyes and needs to constantly be blinking!"

Looked back at Bixby I felt my heart rate accelerate.

Bixby bowed down, looking intently at Buckbeak. I could see his eyes twitching as he tried really hard not to blink.

"Bixby," I said, my voice trembling. "You need to back away."

Bixby ignored me, and Batavia sucked her breath in.

Then I saw his eyes give out. He blinked about ten times fast, collapsing on the floor and groaning in pain as he grabbed his eyes and took out a small vial and leaned his head back to let drops fall in his eyes.

"No!" Batavia cried.

His unfinished task of paying respects to Buckbeak caused the hippogriff to screech in indignation and try and kill Bixby. Hagrid pulled him out of the way, and the hippogriff prepared to leap over the paddock fence.

Just as he flapped his wings and soared up, I transformed into a hippogriff and flew up to meet it in the air, screeching madly and slamming Buckbeak back down onto the ground, pressing my talons onto his neck. Hagrid jumped over the fence and put the chains and leather collar back on. I transformed back and leapt back as Buckbeak squawked angrily.

I bowed to him, forcing my eyes wide open.

Hagrid looked at me uncertainly.

Buckbeak them, glaring at me, bowed back. I heard my classmates sigh in relief. I moved forward and patted Buckbeak on the head.

"Be nice next time," I said. "Bixby really liked you, he just has problems with his eyes."

"Thank yeh, Beth," Hagrid said, wiping sweat off his forehead. "Er- back ter the castle, everyone. Class dismissed."

As the class began to leave, Hagrid tapped me on the shoulder.

"Thank yeh," he said. "I was mighty 'fraid he migh' hurt Bixby."

"It's alright," I said. "Nothing happened."

"How did I do?" Hagrid asked. "It was my firs' class."

"I think it went wonderful," I said. "Good luck next round, Harry and his friends will be joining you."

Hagrid smiled and I ran ahead to catch up to Batavia and Katie. Bixby was still covering his eyes and groaning in pain.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Mhm," Bixby moaned.

"Oh Bixby," Katie said, patting his shoulder. I swear Bixby's cheeks grew pink.

At lunch we found the Golden Trio looking sort of miserable.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Trelawney predicted Harry has the Grim and is going to die," Hermione said nastily. "It's a load of rubbish if you ask me. McGonagall says she predicts a death of someone every term."

"She does," Batavia said. "Last year she predicted Bixby was going to die. Impossible, if you ask me- my brother is an idiot but he's not stupid enough to actually get himself killed."

"Gee thanks," Bixby said, finally taking his hand away from his eyes.

"What the bloody hell happened to him?" Lee asked from across the table.

"Care of Magical Creatures," I said.

"Oh no!" Hermione said. "Is it Hagrid?"

"No," Bixby said. "I didn't think that my eye problems might be an issue when facing a creature that distrusts you if you blink too much. It was beautiful and I got excited."

"He's in love with the creature," Batavia cooed.

"No I'm not," Bixby mumbled.

"Who are you in love with, then?" Katie asked, smirking.

In response, we were all stunned to see Bixby kiss Katie full on the lips. She didn't even pull away.

"Well," Fred said. "That answers it."

"We need to talk," Katie said, gasping for air as she pulled away. She grabbed Bixby's hand and pulled him out of the Great Hall.

"She's fancied him for awhile now," Batavia said dreamily. "She's been wanting to dump Vance Eldrich for ages now, he doesn't pay attention to her."

"Hey Beth," Harry said. "Remember that dog?"

"Yeah," I said.

"What if that was the Grim?" He asked.

I put my fork down. "Harry, that was most certainly not the Grim."

"It was probably a stray," Hermione said.

"Hermione," Ron said, "what if Harry's actually seen the Grim? That's bad."

"I saw it too," I said. "Am I going to die? Because I don't think so. It wasn't the Grim, I know that for a fact."

"You met my uncle Bilius, right, Beth?" Ron said. "He saw the Grim and died twenty four hours later!"

"Coincidence," Hermione said simply.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Ron said indignantly. "Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards."

"There you are, then," Hermione said flatly. "They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us- and Beth is too, for that matter. They're not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well, I's better kick the bucket, then!"

Batavia and I burst out laughing as Ron stared at Hermione.

"I think Divination seems very woolly," she said. "A lot of guesswork, if you ask me."

"That's why I didn't take it," I said as Ron huffed angrily.

"There was nothing woolly about the Grim in that cup, Hermione!" Ron said.

"You didn't seem quite so confident when you were telling Harry it was a-"

I rolled my eyes and tuned out their bickering, turning back to my friends and realizing that now Fred was sitting beside me, not Batavia.

"Hi," I said.

"I want to ask Angelina out tonight," he said. "How should I do it."

"Well are you aiming for something really big or small?" I asked.

"Preferably really big but I think she's more likely to say yes if I do something small," Fred said.

The bell rang, and I grinned.

"Come on, let's go to Transfiguration and I'll finish telling you there," I said.

It was the same deal as Potions in Transfiguration. McGonagall told us to take the OWLs seriously and made sure that we knew what she expected of us this term.

The whole hour was spent practicing transfiguring a watch into a mouse, and discussing strategies with Fred.

When we got to dinner we found that Buckbeak had attacked Draco Malfoy after he insulted it because he was obviously not paying attention.

"That was a really bad thing to happen in Hagrid's first day of teaching, wasn't it?" Ron said. "Trust Malfoy to mess things up for him..."

"They wouldn't fire him, would they?" Hermione asked.

"They wouldn't," I said. "But it's very likely that Buckbeak will no longer be allowed to live."

"What?" Harry said. "They'll kill him?"

"That's what the Ministry does," I said. "Puts down dangerous animals."

"This is rubbish!" Hermione said. "Oh... we need to visit Hagrid!"

"You tell him it isn't his fault," I said.

"Aren't you going to come with us?" Harry asked.

"I've got to help Fred with something," I said.

After dinner the trio left to Hagrid's, and Fred and I hurried up to the Gryffindor Common Room.

We set up the plan so that he, George, Lee, and I were discussing Quidditch when an unsuspecting Angelina was led in by Alicia Spinnet, who was also in on the plan.

"Oi, Angelina!" I said. "Come here."

She nodded and came over, sitting down with us.

"What're we discussing?" She asked.

"Chaser strategies," I said.

"Oh," she said. "Where's Katie?"

I grinned. "She and Bixby finally got together. She just left to dump Vance Eldrich for good."

"That's wonderful!" Angelina said. "Alright, so?"

"We're discussing catching," Fred said cleverly. "You need to be more firm with catching, especially for this upcoming match, since wind and rain won't be in our favor."

"Okay," Angelina said. She opened her mouth to speak but Fred stood up.

"Speaking of catching," he said, grinning, "when I first saw you, you caught my eye. And now you've gone and caught my heart. Angelina Johnson, I fancy you. Will you be my girlfriend so I can say I made the greatest catch of all time?"

Lee and I had to force ourselves not to burst out laughing at how dramatic Fred had spoken the words.

"Holy Hufflepuff!" Angelina shrieked. "Yes, Fred, of course!"

Fred grinned, and took Angelina's hand, leading her away.

"Very clever," Alicia said.

"Yep," Lee said. "Guess she caught feelings for him, didn't she?"

"Oh shut up," Alicia said with a small laugh, going back upstairs.

"We're the honorary third wheel squad now," Lee said miserably. "We're the only ones left that aren't in a relationship."

"Hm," I said, laughing. I caught George looking at me, and felt the butterflies leap again. When was he going to make his move? Because I sure wasn't.

The next day, I was excited that our first class was with my godfather.

"Good morning," he said happily. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags? Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."

Batavia seemed excited, and quickly shoved her books back in her bag. My godfather grinned to me, and I got more curious as to what we might be learning today.

"Right then," he said. "Follow me, please."

He led us out of the classroom and down the hall and straight to the staff room.

"Inside, please," my godfather said. Batavia grabbed my hand and pulled me inside, which made my godfather chuckle.

"Alright!" My godfather said, walking toward an old wardrobe at the end of the room. "This has a boggart inside. Who can tell me what a boggart is?"

Katie raised her hand the fastest.

"It's a shape shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks frightens us most."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," my godfather said. "Second question, in what type of spaces do boggarts often reside?"

A Hufflepuff girl in the back stuck her hand up enthusiastically.

"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," she said. "They're typically found in wardrobes and beneath beds."

"Very good," my godfather said. "This boggart moved in yesterday afternoon and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give the fourth and third years some practice. The boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears."

I raised my hand.

"Yes, Elizabeth?" My godfather asked.

"Is it possible for someone to be fearless and thus encounter a boggart?" I asked.

"It is unlikely but possible," my godfather said. "It has yet to be done. Now, can anyone tell me why we all have a great advantage over the boggart at this moment?"

Batavia answered this.

"It won't know what to turn into until one of us is singled out," she said.

"Precisely," my godfather said. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or flesh eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake. Tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening.

"The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing. We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please, Riddikulus!"

"Riddikulus!" We chorused.

"Good," my godfather said. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. Who wants to go first?"

I raised my hand immediately, but my godfather shook his head.

"Let's see, Mr Hoganson," he said.

Bixby walked up, and stared determinedly at the wardrobe.

"What do you fear most?" My godfather asked him.

"Banshees," Bixby said, and I heard Batavia stifle a laugh.

"How might you make that funny?" My godfather asked him.

"Maybe make her have a really strange, high pitched cry?" Bixby said uncertainly.

"Right then, have a go," my godfather said, flicking his wand to open the wardrobe.

A banshee leapt out, and opened her mouth to screech.

"Riddikulus!" Bixby said.

The banshee let out a sort of high pitched wheeze that made Batavia and I roar with laughter.

"Very good!" My godfather said. "Next!"

Every single person in my class got to face the boggart except me, and when class was dismissed I marched up to my godfather.

"Why didn't you let me face it?" I asked, a bit indignantly.

"Surely you know the answer to that, Elizabeth," my godfather said. "What would happen if the boggart assumed the form of You Know Who? I won't be letting Harry face it either, next class."

"Well everyone's gone now," I said. "Can I see? I want to know."

My godfather sighed. "Elizabeth, are you sure you want to see?"

"Yes," I said. "Ever since I heard about boggarts I've wanted to know."

"Very well then," my godfather said. "Step up..."

I walked up to the wardrobe, my wand drawn. The door opened, and for a moment the boggart didn't appear. Then out came Lord Voldemort, just the way I'd seen him twelve years ago.

I flinched, stepping back. My godfather moved to stop the boggart but then it changed.

I stifled a scream as Harry's dead body appeared on the floor. Then it changed again, and Batavia was on the floor dead. Then Katie. Then Bixby. Then George. Then Fred. Then Lee. Then my godfather. Then George again, and then it stopped changing.

"That's enough," he said, stepping in and sending the boggart back to the wardrobe.

Trembling, I slumped onto the floor.

"Elizabeth?" My godfather asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," I said, my voice shaky. "W-why did it change so much?"

"It was very confused," my godfather said. "It didn't know what you feared most. It went through all your greatest fears until it locked onto the one it felt was your greatest in the moment. Which twin was that?"

"George," I said.

"Ah yes," he said. "I did see how you held his hand on the train. Are you two a couple?"

"Merlin, no," I said. "I fancy him and he supposedly fancies me back, but he won't admit it. He's being stupid."

"Give him time," my godfather said. "It took James six years to earn Lily's affection. He clearly doesn't know how to make a move."

"You're okay with it, then?" I asked.

"If you're happy then I'm fine with it," my godfather said. "I always knew it was inevitable that you would end up fancying one of the Weasley boys. I trust them, and think they are good."

"Thanks," I said, grinning.

"Be patient," my godfather said. "Be as patient as your father was for six years. Now that, that was commitment. If he really fancies you then he's taking is time because he wants to make sure you say yes when he asks."


	22. Chapter 22

Soon, everyone's favorite class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I was pleased to find my godfather happy all the time.

We began to study more complex creatures and I could tell Bixby was loving it (though not as much as he was loving Katie because we couldn't keep them off each other anymore. Fred reckons Bixby is a hypocrite cause he was all disgusted by Batavia and Wood snogging but doesn't mind doing it with Katie.)

"I don't reckon she can breathe," Lee said as he, George, and I practiced transfiguring a mouse into a rat.

I nodded and looked over at Angelina and Fred, who were having a quick snog while McGonagall wasn't in the room.

"Just like Bixby and Katie, they are," George said. "It's almost like someone glued them together."

"I love being a third wheel," Lee said sarcastically. "Everyone around us is in relationships."

"Don't you fancy Alicia?" George asked.

"Yeah," Lee said, waving his wand and accidentally poking the mouse in the ear.

"Then why don't you ask her out?" George demanded.

Lee and I looked at each other and I swear I almost let out an ungodly screech.

I was nearly about to end it. I couldn't be patient anymore, despite what my godfather had said. I didn't know how much more I could stand of him doing this.

"Why don't you ask out the girl YOU fancy?" Lee demanded.

I swear I almost threw the mouse across the room when George took a quick glance at me.

"I don't know how to ask her yet," George said. "It needs to be good. But not cheesy like what Fred did."

"Well," Lee said, "cheesy worked out for him."

I reluctantly nodded as Fred and Angelina sprang apart, the door having been pushed open by Professor McGonagall.

Later that day Oliver Wood (and Batavia) called us to a meeting in the evening to discuss tactics.

I could tell Wood was anxious about it, since Batavia kept caressing his hand. I was glad that Bixby no longer got between her and Wood, since I knew as long as Batavia was happy it didn't matter who she was dating. Besides, Wood is a good guy. He's just a little... obsessive about Quidditch.

"This is our last chance," he said. "And my last chance- to win the Quidditch Cup. I'll be leaving at the end of this year. I'll never get another shot at it.

"Gryffindor hasn't won for seven years now. Okay, so we've had the worst of luck in the world- injuries- then the tournament getting called off last year, but we also know we've got the best ruddy team in the school."

He walked forward and pointed to me, Katie, and Angelina.

"We've got three superb Chasers," he said. Then he pointed to the twins. "We've got two unbeatable Beaters."

"Stop it Oliver, you're embarrassing us," Fred said. Next to me, George pretended he was blushing, and I laughed.

"And we've got a Seeker who has never failed to win us a match!" Wood finished, looking at Harry. "And then we have me."

"You're excellent," Batavia sighed, pressing a kiss on his lips as we all groaned.

"we think you're very good too, Oliver," George said.

"Spanking good Keeper," Fred added.

"Do we get a kiss too?" They finished in unison. We all burst out laughing and Wood waved a hand in the air for us to quiet down.

"The point is," he said, "the Quidditch Cup should have had our name on it these last two years. Ever since Harry joined the team, I've thought the thing was in the bag. But we haven't got it, and this year's the last chance we'll get to finally see our name on the thing..."

The mood became miserable.

"This year is our year," I said. "We've got this."

"We'll do it, Oliver!" Angelina said.

No one was prepared to go through rainy and freezing practices for the next few weeks, but we did it. Despite the harsh wind and the bitter cold, we trained hard. I could feel that this year, the silver Quidditch Cup would be ours.

As we neared the end of October we found that a Hogsmeade visit had been scheduled on Halloween. This of course reminded Harry and I that we couldn't go.

"I've been needing to visit Zonko's," Fred noted, his arm around Angelina. "I'm nearly out of Stink Pellets."

Angelina giggled, and I caught Harry looking at me miserably from a bit aways.

"I'm sure you'll both be able to go next time," Hermione said, sitting between Harry and I. "They're bound to catch Black soon. He's been sighted once already."

"I'm not worried about Black," I said.

"And Black's not fool enough to try anything in Hogsmeade anyway," Ron said. "I reckon you should ask McGonagall if you can go this time, Harry and Beth. The next one might not be for ages."

"Ron!" Hermione cried. "They're supposed to stay in school!"

"They'll be the only ones left behind," Ron said. "Ask McGonagall."

"You can ask, Harry," I said. "I don't mind staying."

"Now THAT is not a normal statement," George said. I turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"I can still forge signatures, you know," he said. "Why would you rather stay behind than go?"

"I'd like to spend the day with my godfather," I said. "Besides I don't even know what's in Hogsmeade, I'm not missing out if I've never been."

"You'll be wanting to go once the guy you fancy asks you to go with him," Katie piped up.

"Why would he ask me?" I asked, pretending I didn't notice George looking straight at me.

"Well maybe because he wants to take you on a date!" Katie said. I could tell the tension in the room was building up.

"No I doubt he fancies me," I said boldly. "All he does is make me think he does and leave. He won't be asking me anytime soon."

Our area went dead silent.

"I need to use the loo," George said abruptly, getting up to leave.

Once he'd gone upstairs Katie gawked at me.

"You sly woman!" She shrieked. "You called him out right here, in our presence!"

"I'm not waiting much longer for him to get his crap together," I said. "I don't need to be wasting my time with him if he's not going to make a move. There are other boys in this school."

Fred and Angelina stared at me almost as though they were afraid of me.

"What?" I said sharply.

"You just cut my brother's heart out and chopped it into pieces before his eyes!" Fred said. "I mean, be firm yes, but that was... intense."

"Then you tell your brother to make a move before he loses me," I said. "I'm sick of waiting. If he's just going to keep playing my emotions then I'm leaving the game because there are only so many injuries I can handle. This isn't Quidditch."

Angelina snorted, and patted Fred's shoulder.

"She means it!" She hissed. "Go tell him!"

Fred reluctantly got up and went upstairs.

"OY! GET OFF YOU STUPID ANIMAL!"

We all whipped around and saw Addy had leapt onto Ron and was clawing at his chest pocket.

"Ron, don't hurt him!" Hermione cried.

Addy clawed at the pocket again and Scabbers came flying out.

"CATCH THAT CAT!" Ron bellowed as Addy leapt down and began chasing after Scabbers.

I summoned Scabbers straight to me and then thrust him into Ron's waiting hands.

"Thanks-"

Then I summoned Addy, and cradled her to my chest.

"Addy, Addy, Addy," I cooed. "You need to be nice!"

"That cat doesn't know what 'nice' means!" Ron yelled. "Look at Scabbers! He's all skin and bone!"

"Addy can't help it," I said. "It's probably the only rat she sees out in the open and she likely thinks we'll be proud if she catches it."

"What part of this is my pet doesn't she understand?" Ron shouted.

"She's a cat, Ron," I said sharply. "It's in her nature to chase rats, even if they're your pets."

"There's something funny about that animal!" Ron said. "It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!"

"Oh what rubbish!" Hermione said, taking Addy from me and hugging her. "Addy could smell him, Ron, how else d'you think-"

"That cat's got it in for Scabbers!" Ron snapped. "Scabbers was here first and he's ill!"

"So it's a matter of seniority now, is it?" I demanded. "What part of 'Addy is a cat' do you not understand?"

"That's an evil cat," Ron spat. "Should've killed it when you could, Harry, with that toy broom."

I gaped incredulously at Ron and saw Hermione glare angrily toward him.

"It's okay, Addy," she said coldly. "You didn't mean to. This isn't your fault."

Harry didn't seem to know what to say to this.

"Bloody hell," Bixby said, making me turn back to them. "There is a train wreck of emotions in this Common Room."

"Oh shut up," I said, although I cracked a small smile.

_______

On the day of the Hogsmeade visit, Harry implored with McGonagall to let him visit Hogsmeade. She said no, and would not sign his form.

Percy tried to comfort Harry, who was most depressed about not going, but it wasn't too helpful.

"They make a fuss about Hogsmeade, but I assure you, Harry, it's not all it's cracked up to be," he said. "All right, the sweetshop's rather good, and Zonko's Joke Shop's frankly dangerous, and yes, the Shrieking Shack's always worth a visit, but really, Harry, apart from that you're not missing anything."

I stared at Percy like he was stupid, and he quickly left to Hogsmeade with Penelope.

"I feel worse now," Harry said.

"We'll bring you both lots of sweets from Honeydukes!" Hermione said.

"Yeah, loads," Ron said. "Promise."

"Don't wordy about me," Harry said flatly. "I'll see you at the feast. Have a good time."

Despite his bitter mood Harry still insisted he wanted to walk Ron and Hermione to the doors.

"Staying here, Potter?" Malfoy shouted as he waited in line. "Scared of passing the dementors?"

"Didn't you cry that night, Malfoy?" I spat back. "I think crying trumps fainting on the list of how much of a wuss you really are. Scared cause you didn't have your mummy there with you, huh?"

Malfoy turned pink and shot up a rude hand gesture to me, so I shot one back at him, which made Fred and George look amused from behind Malfoy in line.

Harry wanted to go back to the Common Room for awhile, but when Colin Creevey came upon us and asked to hang out Harry suddenly decided we had homework to do in the library.

"What was the point of waking me up?" The Fat Lady said angrily as we walked back out.

"Sorry," I muttered as we began to walk to the library.

"I don't want to do work after all," Harry said when we reached the door.

"I will slap you, Harry James Potter!" I hissed. "You made me walk all the way here for nothing when I told you I wanted to visit Uncle Remus."

"Okay," Harry said glumly. "Let's visit him."

"There's always next year," I sighed. "Don't get bummed out. This is my second year not going, you haven't even got it bad..."

"What are you doing?"

We whipped around to find Filch and Mrs Norris.

"Going to visit Professor Lupin," I said, tugging Harry's hand and leading him down a corridor.

"A likely story!" Filch spat behind us, making me turn around and scowl at him. "Why aren't you two in Hogsmeade with your nasty little friends buying Stink Pellets and Belch Powder and Whizzing Worms?"

"Just like you, we can't go," I snapped. "Now, we're going to visit Professor Lupin."

Once we turned onto another corridor, Harry stared at me in disbelief.

"Who are you?" He asked. "What've you done with my sister?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You've been snapping at everyone left and right since the first day back," Harry said.

"I'm just sick of people treating me like shit," I said. "George playing my emotions, Ron complaining about Addy, Malfoy talking bad about us, and Filch accusing us like always. I'm not taking their crap anymore."

Harry grinned proudly as he knocked on my godfather's office door. "I like it. It's fun to watch."

I rolled my eyes as my godfather opened the door.

"Ah," my godfather said happily. "You're just in time, I've just taken a delivery of a grindylow for the next third year lesson."

"No way!" I said.

"What's a grindylow?" Harry asked.

"A water demon," my godfather said, leading us inside and pointing to a tank of water in the corner of his office. "We shouldn't have much difficulty with him, not after the kappas. The trick is to break his grip. You notice the abnormally long fingers? Strong but very brittle."

"Bixby is going to be making you a temple next," I said. "One for you and one for Hagrid."

My godfather laughed. "Yes Mr Hoganson is a big creature lover, isn't he? Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Yes please," Harry said.

My godfather tapped the kettle with his wand and served three cups of tea.

"Uncle Remus," Harry said as he took the cup, "why didn't you let me fight the boggart that day?"

"Ah," my godfather said. "Yes. I didn't let your sister do it in front of the class either. I assumed it would take the form of Lord Voldemort. And it did, for Elizabeth."

"What?" Harry said incredulously.

"Only for a moment," I said. "Then it turned into a bunch of people's dead bodies."

Harry's expression became grim. "I didn't think of Voldemort. I remembered the dementors."

"I see," my godfather said. "Well... I'm impressed. That suggests that what you fear most of all is fear. Very wise, Harry."

"How come Beth actually saw Voldemort and not the dementors?" Harry said.

"Elizabeth can remember him as clearly today as she saw him twelve years ago," my godfather said. "You are too young to remember what he looked like that day. She also witnessed death. You have not. She could fear fear too, but she has seen too much. It is rational that she is most afraid of what she witnessed."

"So I fear fear because I don't remember?" Harry asked. "And the only thing that truly scared me is dementors because it stirred the memory?"

"Essentially," my godfather said. "So Harry, were you thinking that I didn't believe you capable of fighting the boggart?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "Sorry Uncle Remus I really should've figured it out-"

There was a knock on the door, and my godfather casually flicked his wand.

The door opened and Snape stepped inc carrying a goblet that was smoking faintly.

"Ah, Severus," my godfather said, smiling. "Thanks very much. Could you leave it here on the desk for me?"

Snape put the goblet down and stared at Harry.

"I was just showing them my grindylow," my godfather said cheerily.

"Fascinating," Snape said, not even bothering to look at it. "You should drink that directly, Lupin."

"Yes, yes I will," my godfather said.

"I made an entire cauldronful," Snape said. "If you need more.

"I should probably take some again tomorrow. Thank you very much, Severus."

"Not at all," Snape said, walking out.

"Professor Snape has very kindly concocted a potion for me," my godfather said pleasantly. "I have never been much of a potion brewer and this one is particularly complex. Pity sugar makes it useless."

"What did he brew it for?" Harry asked curiously.

"I've been feeling a bit off color," my godfather said, looking at me. The full moon was approaching. "This potion is the only thing that helps. I'm very lucky to be working alongside Professor Snape, there aren't many wizards who are up to making it."

My godfather brought the goblet to his lips and took a large swig of it, then made a face.

"Professor Snape's very interested in the Dark Arts," Harry said abruptly. "Some people reckon he'd do anything to get the Defense Against the Dark Arts job."

My godfather and I both laughed.

"He's not going to poison me," my godfather said. "It's alright Harry."

"Okay," Harry said, looking uncertainly at me.

Harry and I spent the rest of the day with my godfather in his classroom, drinking hot chocolate while he drank his goblet (I assume it was the wolfsbane potion he mentioned he wanted to try) and having a Wizard's Chess tournament that ended in Harry and I nearly slapping each other after my godfather cleverly gave Harry the advantage since I'd already beaten him twice.

"You can't help him," I said as my godfather grinned to us over the papers he was grading.

"I taught you to play Wizards Chess," he reminded me. "I'm a teacher. I help my students."

"That's cheating," I said in a sing song voice.

When it began to grow dark, Harry decided he wanted to return downstairs to greet Ron and Hermione. I let him go ahead, saying I needed to discuss something with my godfather.

"Yes?" He asked once Harry left.

"That was a wolfsbane potion, wasn't it?" I asked.

"Yes," my godfather said. "Very kind of Severus to make it for me, you know, after..."

"After what?" I asked.

"We went to school together," my godfather said. "Your father didn't like him much... it was almost like how Mr Malfoy and Harry go at each other's throats, except Severus would be the one bullied more often. That was part of the reason why your mother disliked your father at first."

"Ah," I said. "So she and Snape were friends."

"Best friends until... yeah," my godfather said.

"So that's why he's always been nice to me but not Harry," I said. "Cause I'm the spitting image of my mother."

"I suppose so," my godfather said. "Your personality, however, is more closely related to that of James, though."

"Good," I said. "Do you think he'd teach me to brew the wolfsbane potion if I asked?"

My godfather looked at me, bewildered.

"Brew the potion?" He said. "But Elizabeth that's very advanced, and you wouldn't want to burden yourself making it."

"I want to help," I said. "You've never let me help you."

"I don't want to hurt you," my godfather said with a pained expression. "Even knowing you could turn into an animal and be near me and keep me company, I couldn't bring myself to do that. I could've hurt you. I-I'm a monster."

"No you're not!" I said. "You taught me to play Wizard's Chess! You splinted my leg when I broke it falling off the tree! You- you taught me to read and write and how to play Quidditch! You're not a monster. A monster couldn't have taught me that."

My godfather looked at me, almost like he wanted to cry.

"Elizabeth it would be too much work for you-"

"I don't mind!" I said, jumping to my feet. "In fact, I'm going to ask Snape now if he'll teach me."

"Elizabeth-"

Ignoring my godfather I ran all the way down to the dungeons, and found Snape pouring the wolfsbane potion into a cauldron with a cover on it.

"Teach me," I said, making him stare at me in disbelief. "Teach me to brew the wolfsbane potion."

Snape looked at me uncertainly. "Miss Potter that is a NEWT level Potion."

"I don't care," I said. "I want to learn to brew it. When he's not at Hogwarts he won't be able to brew it himself. I need to learn."

Snape sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Fine," he said. "Grab that basket from the supplies cabinet and get over here."

After about an hour of brewing, Snape left for the feast. I'd finished the potion successfully, and had earned ten points for Gryffindor.

"You have the same determination as your mother," Snape drawled before he left, which made me roll my eyes.

I was left alone in the Potions classroom as I began to pour the wolfsbane potion into a cauldron with a cover on it.

Just as I was getting ready to put the supplies back, the door opened.

I gasped loudly when Pads was in front of me. The great dog became Sirius Black, and grinned to me.

"Elizabeth," he said. "Bloody hell you look just like Lily..."

"So I've been told," I said, staring at him in disbelief. "How did you get into the castle?"

"Same way as I got out of Azkaban," he said. "As a dog. The dementors can't detect me."

"Brilliant!" I said, running forward and leaping into his arms.

Sirius chuckled and hugged me, patting my head.

"You're not running away from me," he said curiously.

"I know you're innocent," I said. "I can remember you from before. You couldn't have betrayed my parents. Uncle Remus thinks so too but er he's not entirely sure so we can't tell him you're here. He told me to stay away from you at all costs."

"Well that's his duty as a Professor," Sirius said. "How's Harry?"

"He's alright," I said. "Wow... does anyone know you're here?"

"They will soon," Sirius said, looking more frantic now. "I went to the Gryffindor Common Room in search of Peter Pettigrew."

"He is alive, then?" I asked.

"Yes," Sirius said. "Ron's rat."

"Oh!" I said. "Sirius, remember the cat we had?"

"Addy?" He asked.

"Yes!" I said. "We found her in the creature shop in August and she's here with us. She keeps going after Scabbers!"

"Aha!" Sirius said. "Cats can sense when someone is evil... I bet she knows who he really is. Well... anyway... I tried to get in but I didn't know the password and the Fat Lady refused so I slashed up her portrait to get through and she bolted so I came down here."

"We need to get you out," I said, sprinting to the supply cabinet and putting the supplies back.

"How are your going to get me out?" Sirius inquired.

"First," I said, "you need to trust me on this."

"You trusted me, so I trust you," Sirius said firmly.

"Okay," I said. "Grab my shoulder. I'm going to turn us both Invisible so we can get out of here."

I peeked out the classroom door then beckoned Sirius forward. As soon as his hand gripped my shoulder I turned us both invisible, and slowly began to lead him down to the nearest window we would be able to open.

We got to a deserted corridor with no paintings in sight. I turned us visible and opened the window, climbing out onto the small ledge in front of it.

"Elizabeth!" Sirius hissed. "You'll fall!"

"No I won't," I said. "I'm James' kid. I wouldn't fall. That'd be stupid."

Sirius grinned to me, shaking his head.

"Now I'm going to turn into a hippogriff," I said. "It's a new thing I tried the other day. You climb out, get on my back, and close the window."

Sirius nodded. I transformed and walked off the ledge, flapping my windows to stay at the height of the window.

Sirius lept out of it and onto my back, and reached over to the close the window, then grabbing tightly to my neck feathers.

I flew quickly above the castle, and towards Hogsmeade village. I knew if I made it to the mountains past there then Sirius would be safe.

After about twenty minutes of flying I reached the edge of Hogsmeade village and landed. Sirius immediately jumped off my back and I transformed back.

"I can never thank you enough," Sirius said, hugging me and pressing me close to his chest. "You're a perfect mix of James and Lily... I'm glad you can remember... would you please tell Harry?"

"I can't," I said. "Uncle Remus told me not to even mention the fact that you supposedly betrayed our parents. If Harry somehow heard the Ministry's version them I'd tell him my thoughts but unless he does I can't tell him anything."

"It's alright," Sirius said, pressing a kiss onto my forehead. "Thank you, Elizabeth. Now get back to school quickly."

I nodded and transformed into a small songbird and flew all the way back to the castle, landing on the window near the Charms corridor. This was on the way to the Great Hall from the Potions classroom. If they still didn't know Sirius had been in the castle then I could say I'd barely been on my way up...

I became a bowtruckle for the sake of climbing through the gap between the window frame and the stone wall. Once I was inside Hogwarts I turned back into a human and darted down the corridor, fixing my slightly messed up hair.

I arrived in the entrance hall and found everyone was heading back to their Common Rooms.

"Miss Potter," Snape said, exiting the Great Hall at that moment. "You didn't return to the feast."

"I broke the flasks," I lied smoothly, looking down to add a guilt effect. "I summoned new ones and threw the others away... I'm sorry."

"Nevermind that," Snape said. "Be more careful next time."

Then he walked away. I was getting incredibly lucky!

I walked all the way to the Gryffindor Common Room and found that they'd just discovered what Sirius had done, and were sending us back to the Great Hall to sleep in order for them to search the castle.

I was heading back when I ran into the gang.

"Where have you been?" George demanded.

"Yeah, you never came to the feast," Harry said. "How much longer did you stay with Uncle Remus?"

"Just a bit longer. I went down to the Potions classroom. Snape taught me to brew a potion," I said. "Upon request."

"Snape arrived to the feast half an hour ago," George said suspiciously.

"I was cleaning up, alright?" I said, growing annoyed. "Why do you care so much?"

"Did you not just see the Fat Lady's portrait?" He snapped. "Sirius Black is in the castle! You could have been killed waiting there by yourself!"

"So?" I snapped. "I'm fine, and I can't even die so-"

"You could have been hurt then!" George hissed again. "I don't want to see you hurt!"

"Really?" I snapped. "Really? Then why are you playing my emotions all the time?"

"What are you talking about?" George demanded. "What-"

"Don't act like you don't know!" I shrieked. "You always do this, act like you care about me-"

"What?" George said, turning red. "What do you-"

"This is exactly what I'm talking about!" I cried. "You act all defensive of me and flirty and then you act like it all means nothing to you! You don't do that with just a normal friend! That's something you do with someone you fancy!"

"I-I don't fancy y-you-"

I glared at him.

"Way to go, George!" Fred spat sarcastically from beside me.

George opened his mouth to speak but I held my hand up to silence him.

"You don't have to care so much," I said scathingly. "But then again, that's your specialty, isn't it? Pretending to care about me like I'm something more than a friend or sister and then walking away! Well, you know what, George? This time I'm walking away. I can't believe I wasted my time fancying you, and thinking even for a minute that you might fancy me back."

I stormed away, leaving George behind gaping at me. I distinctly heard Fred start yelling at him but I was no longer paying attention to that. I was paying attention to the furious tears that were now dripping down my face.


	23. Chapter 23

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," Dumbledore announced. "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, as some of you already know, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately. Send word with one of the ghosts."

He looked around and nodded. "Oh yes, you will be needing these...."

He flicked his wand and the four long tables disappeared, purple sleeping bags appearing in their place.

"Wow," Batavia squealed. "I've never slept in a sleeping bag!"

"Let's get spots!" Katie said happily. She chose the one in front of her. Bixby sat to her left, beside Batavia, who had Wood on her other side.

"No sleeping together," Fred cooed to them as he and Angelina took places near Harry and Ron, who were all looking slightly conflicted.

I didn't even glance at George. I chose the sleeping bag furthest from him, between Hermione and Ginny.

"We saw what he did," Ginny said timidly as we all climbed into sleeping bags. "He's an arse."

"I know," I sighed. "It's annoying-"

"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" Percy called out. "Come on now, no talking! Lights out in ten minutes."

"Do you think Black's still in the castle?" Hermione whispered anxiously.

"I doubt it," I said. "If he escaped Azkaban he probably is already long gone from here."

Yeah, because you helped him, my conscience said.

"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know," Hermione said. "The one night we weren't in the tower..."

"But Beth!" Ginny said. "You were all alone down in the dungeons! He could've hurt you!"

"Nah," I said. "I'm Elizabeth bloody Potter. Tough as steel."

Ginny laughed, and Hermione shuddered.

"I want to know how he got in," she whispered.

"Maybe he knows how to Apparate," Ron said from the other side of Hermione. "Just appear out of thin air, you know."

"Maybe he flew in!" Ginny said.

"Or disguised himself," I piped up. I had to make sure they didn't suspect I'd helped or anything. Luckily, they didn't.

"Honestly, am I the only person who's ever bothered to read Hogwarts, a History?" Hermione asked scathingly.

"Probably," Ron said. "Why?"

"Because the castle's protected by more than walls, you know," Hermione said. "There are all sorts of enchantments on it to stop people entering by stealth. You can't just Apparate in here. And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those dementors. They're guarding every single entrance to the grounds plus they'd have seen him fly in. And Filch probably covered the secret passageways-"

"The lights are going out now!" Percy said. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"

All the candles went out, but the voices merely dropped to a whisper. The ghosts drifting around talking to the prefects and the enchanted ceiling were the only sources of light, and the only other sound was the soft breeze we could hear from outside.

"Beth?" Ginny whispered.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Do you think you could ever forgive George?" She asked.

"If he apologizes properly," I hissed. "And gives me a damn good excuse for playing with my emotions this entire time."

Ginny nodded, and looked away almost like she was plotting something.

Quite honestly, I don't think anyone but Fred and maybe Ginny slept. I could hear Hermione tossing and turning and Ron and Harry whispering lightly.

It must have been about three o'clock in the morning when Dumbledore came back.

"Any sign of him, Professor?" Percy asked.

"No," Dumbledore's voice said. "All well here?"

"Yes," Percy said. "Everything under control, sir."

"Good. There's no point moving them all now. I've found a temporary guardian for the Gryffindor portrait hole. You'll be able to move them back in tomorrow."

"And the Fat Lady, sir?"

"Hiding in a map of Argyllshire on the second floor. Apparently she refused to let Black in without the password, so he attacked. She's still very distressed. Once she's calmed down I'll have Mr Filch restore her."

"Headmaster?"

It was Snape.

"The whole of the third floor has been searched. He's not there. And Filch has done the dungeons. Nothing there either."

"What about the Astronomy Tower? Professor Trelawney's room? The Owlery?"

"All searched."

"Very well, Severus. I didn't really expect Black to linger."

"Have you any theory as to how he got in, Professor?"

"Many, Severus. But each of them as unlikely as the next. I know you expressed concerns about someone helping him in and out of the castle but I do not believe anyone in Hogwarts would have helped Black enter it or escape it."

Feeling extremely guilty, I turned on my side and opened my eyes, breathing heavily.

I trusted Sirius, but even Dumbledore had his doubts. Had Sirius really been faking it I could have endangered the entire school.

But I was going to stick to my opinion. Sirius wasn't to blame. He couldn't be.

The Fat Lady was replaced with a rather annoying knight from another portrait named Sir Cadogan. He was a right git, and changed the password nearly every day.

Whenever I did manage to get into the Common Room, I spent every moment with Addy under my arm in hopes that Ron might bring Scabbers out. I was discreetly trying to get Addy to eat it.

Harry and I both started being watched more closely, which became irritating. Now I had Percy breathing down my back all the time and my godfather reminding me not to get close to Sirius Black. Too fucking late, thank Merlin he doesn't have access to Veritaserum.

A week before our first Quidditch match, McGonagall called Harry and I to her office.

"There's no point hiding it from you both any longer," she said in a serious voice. "I know this will come as a shock to you, but Sirius Black-"

"Is after us," Harry said wearily. "We know, we heard Ron's dad telling his mum. Mr Weasley works for the Ministry."

"I see," McGonagall said, pursing her lips. "Well in that case then you both understand why I don't think it's a good idea for you to be practicing Quidditch in the evenings. Out on the field with only your team members, it's very exposed-"

"Professor!" I cried. "We need to train!"

"We've got our first match on Saturday!" Harry said. "We've been preparing for months!"

Professor McGonagall sighed, stood up, and stared out the window. "Well... goodness knows I'd like to see us win the Cup at last. But all the same, Potter, I'd be happier of a teacher were present. I'll ask Madam Hooch to oversee your training sessions.

"Thank you!" I said, hugging her. She was very taken aback, and lightly patted my back.

Thus we trained for the rest of the week, under Madam Hooch's eye.

The final practice we had before the match, Wood gave us unpleasant news.

"We're not playing Slytherin!" He said. "Flint's just been to see me. We're playing Hufflepuff instead."

"Why?" We all chorused furiously.

"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm is still injured," Wood said, gritting his teeth. "But it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances-"

"They have no chances!" I hissed. "They couldn't beat us!"

"There isn't even anything wrong with Malfoy's arm!" Harry said. "He's faking it!"

"I know that but we can't prove it," Wood said. "And we've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin and instead it's Hufflepuff, and their style's quite different. They've got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory-"

Alicia, who was our backup Chaser, let out a giggle, and Angelina and Katie soon joined her.

"What?" Wood asked.

"He's that tall, good looking one, isn't he?" Alicia asked.

"Strong and silent," Angelina agreed.

"He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together," George said bitterly. I caught him looking at me so I pretended I hadn't noticed.

"I don't know why you're worried, Oliver," Fred said. "Hufflepuff's a pushover. Last time we played them, Harry caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?"

"Last tome they didn't have Diggory as a Seeker," I reminded him. "And it was nice and sunny. As much as I dislike Diggory I must admit he is an excellent Seeker. We can't put our guard down."

"Exactly," Wood agreed. "We mustn't relax. We must keep our focus. Slytherin is trying to wrong foot us. We must win!"

"Oliver calm down!" Fred said. "We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. Seriously."

The day before the match, the Slytherins were looking very smug, and the tension rose more between us and the Hufflepuffs.

"Okay," Wood said at lunch to us all. "I've come up with a plan."

"What for?" George asked.

"Backup in case anything goes wrong," Wood said. "If something happens to Harry, then Beth will take his place as Seeker and Alicia will jump in as Chaser."

"Me, a Seeker?" I spluttered. "But Wood I've practiced Seeking about twice in my life-"

"You've got it in your blood," Wood said. "You should be fine."

Staring indignantly at him I took another spoonful of soup.

"And if anything happens to both Elizabeth and Harry," Wood said, his eyes darting between my brother and I, "then Alicia will replace Elizabeth and one of the Weasley twins will jump in as Seeker since we have a backup Beater in the stands."

"What?" Fred said. "Oliver you couldn't have told us before?"

"I just came up with it last class!" Wood said. "That's just our plan if anything goes wrong."

"Nice to see you have faith in us," I said irritably. I caught George staring at me again and rolled my eyes, making sure he saw me.

That evening in the Common Room, I was in my usual spot on the couch with Addy on my lap reviewing Seeker techniques when Hermione approached me.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Did you have Defense Against the Dark Arts today?" She asked.

"No," I said. "Why?"

"Professor Lupin was absent," Hermione said. "And Professor Snape was the substitute. He assigned an essay about werewolves."

"That git," I said. Snape must have known!

"I was reviewing the signs and stuff," Hermione said, now sitting down next to me. "Beth... is Professor Lupin a werewolf? It all fits."

I sighed. "Yes, he is, Hermione. That's why I was partly raised by the Weasleys. Once a month I'd spent three days at their place while he went through that. Please don't tell anyone, though."

"I won't!" She said. "I just needed to know. Listen, I know he's your godfather and all, but... is he safe?"

"Perfectly safe," I said. "Snape taught me how to make a wolfsbane potion. It helps make those nights a tad easier for him. He's not dangerous at all."

"Okay," Hermione said, patting Addy on the head. "Okay... thanks."

When she left I took a deep breath, and scratched Addy behind the ears. Hermione's intelligence was intimidating.

I was woken up at four thirty in the morning by Peeves, who was blowing in my ear.

"What did you do that for?" I hissed as I shot out of bed.

"No reason!" Peeves said, cackling softly and leaving.

At this rate I knew I would never be able to get back to sleep. I got dressed and grabbed my broom and headed downstairs, where I found Addy waiting patiently for me on the couch.

"Very smart girl!" I said, patting her head. "Get that rat when you see him."

She very nearly nodded, and I grinned.

I walked out into the hallway, and ignored the challenges that Sir Cadogan threw at me. When I arrived in the Great Hall I found one other person in there: Cedric Diggory.

I ignored him and went to sit at the table. I summoned food into my plate and began to eat.

"Could you do that for me too?"

I looked up and saw Cedric Diggory had come to sit at the Gryffindor table. I raised my eyebrow and summoned food for him, handing it to him and pretending like he was no longer there.

"I'm Cedric Diggory," he said.

"Everyone knows that," I said.

Cedric chuckled. "Nice to meet you, Beth."

"Only my friends can call me Beth, thanks," I said with a cheeky grin, shoving some toast into my mouth.

"Elizabeth, then," Cedric said. "Why are you up so early?"

"Peeves was blowing in my ear," I said.

"Hmm," Cedric said, chuckling slightly. "Aren't you friends with him?"

"Yes," I said. "But he's still a prick."

"I see," Cedric said. "I couldn't sleep. Today... is going to be interesting."

"Tell me about it," I said. "The rain is hitting the ground so hard it's a wonder the roof hasn't crumbled down."

"And the winds are very fast today," Cedric added. "Won't be good for you Chasers."

"Won't be any better for you Seekers," I said.

Cedric looked at me curiously. "Have I offended you?"

"What?" I asked. "No, I just don't know you. I'm not a big talker with strangers."

That was a fat lie. How am I supposed to tell him that I don't find him attractive and that I think he's overrated?

"Playing it safe then," Cedric said.

There was a beat of silence.

"Why are you still sitting here?" I asked.

"There isn't anyone else here," Cedric said. "Might as well keep each other company."

"I like eating alone," I said.

Cedric rolled his eyes, which made me send him a nasty glare.

"That's why you eat surrounded by about ten people," Cedric said.

"Like I mentioned before, they're my friends," I said.

Cedric grinned and shook his head. "You're interesting, Elizabeth. I think I'd like to get to know you."

"I'm good, thanks."

Cedric stared at me curiously then got up, taking his food with him. "Thank you for the food."

I didn't respond, and instead kept eating.

What was wrong with me? He was just trying to be nice and I kept pushing him away. It was almost like...

Oh. That was it. Yeah, I suppose you could say I wasn't truly over George. I guess part of me thought he might still try and say something. I was probably wrong.

"It's going to be a tough one," Wood said once the team had joined me at breakfast.

"Stop worrying, Oliver," Angelina said. "We don't mind a bit of rain."

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news but it's fucking pouring outside and it sounds like there's a tornado happening," I said, which made everyone stare at me.

"I've been listening since four thirty in the morning," I said, rubbing my eyes.

We decided there was no more to be said. Wood didn't even give us a peptalk this time, and I think maybe I shouldn't have said what I did.

The Hufflepuff team walked out from the their side of the pitch, Diggory in the lead. After he shook hands with Wood he grinned at me and I made a face.

"Mount your brooms..."

I threw my leg over my broom, determined to score as many times as possible in the match.

When the whistle blew I caught the Quaffle immediately and strategically flew under all the players. Within the first two minutes I scored.

Despite earlier's miserable breakfast, it seemed Wood became a lot happier once Katie scored, which meant we were twenty points ahead.

Lee's commentary couldn't even be heard with how hard he wind was blowing, and if it wasn't for the fact that I was wearing three pairs of socks I think my feet would've frozen and fallen off.

We played for what seemed like an hour, madly throwing the Quaffle around in hopes that someone on our team would catch it. I couldn't tell who was on my team anymore from how much the rain was obstructing my vision.

Madam Hooch's whistle blew suddenly, and I saw the faint outline of Oliver calling a time out.

We huddled under a large umbrella to hear what he had to say.

"We're fifty points up," Wood announced as Harry ran over. "But unless we get the Snitch soon we'll be playing into the night."

"Got it," Harry said. But then he took his glasses off. "I've got no chance with these on."

"Oh! I have an idea!" Batavia said, taking her wand out and tapping Harry's glasses. "Impervius!"

Wood then took her into his arms and kissed her so hard that we all groaned collectively.

"Done yet?" Fred asked as Wood pulled away from Batavia.

"Yes!" He said. "Let's win this!"

We began to play again, and Angelina and I each managed to score again.

Then I heard collective screams from the crowd.

I saw several dementors were high up in the air, very near where Harry and Cedric were chasing the Snitch. Cedric and Harry both pulled up as the Snitch dove down into the sea of dementors, and then, the horrific moment occurred. Harry fell off his broom, fifty feet in the air.

I forcefully threw the Quaffle back to Katie and flew down to the ground. I summoned Harry into my arms and collapsed as his weight crashed down with all the momentum it'd been gathering.

The game was put into another time out as Dumbledore stood up and sent the Dementors away by shooting a silvery thing at them.

Madam Hooch landed and ran over, Dumbledore appearing beside her shortly after.

"He's fainted!" I cried. "He's completely unconscious!"

Dumbledore waved his wand. Suddenly Harry was on a stretcher.

"I will take him," he said. "Madam Hooch, the game may continue once changes have been made."

Oliver flew down and gripped me by the shoulders.

"Seeker, now!" He hissed. "Alicia's jumping in as Chaser!"

I gripped my broom and nodded, feeling my heart beating fast as I lined up on the field to continue the game.

I shot up into the sky when the whistle was blown. It was very odd for me not to be grabbing the Quaffle. I flew up higher than the players and began doing quick laps.

I didn't find the Snitch on the first or second revolution, so I flew lower.

Then I saw it, right in the middle of the game.

Cursing, I flew straight at it, narrowly avoiding knocking Katie off her broom. I swerved wildly and dove between two Hufflepuff Chasers, then receiving a hit from a Bludger in the back.

Ignoring the pain and dove forward to get the Snitch. The stupid winged ball began to fly up, and I went into a vertical ascend, twisting in midair to catch the Snitch off guard. It didn't see that coming, and my hand managed to clasp itself around it.

"I DID IT!" I screamed, which made the players below falter. "I CAUGHT THE SNITCH! IT'S OVER!"

I heard Wood roar joyfully as I flew back down. I was ambushed by the team with several hugs, which I pushed myself out of.

"I need to check on Harry-"

"Elizabeth!" Cedric said, flying down and shaking his head, causing some rain to be thrown in my direction. "Great game!"

He moved to shake my hand. I shook it very quickly then pushed past him, sprinting all the way until I arrived at the Hospital Wing, where I found Harry still unconscious.

The rest of the team joined me soon after, and I shivered like crazy while squeezing Harry's hand, hoping he would wake up.

I felt someone put a blanket around me. Looking up I saw George. He half smiled at me, and I nodded gratefully.

Harry was pleased to know we'd won when he woke up, but was distressed that the dementors had affected him. He was also unhappy when he asked me to summon his Nimbus and it appeared in pieces.

"What the bloody hell could have happened to it?" I shrieked.

"It must've run into the Whomping Willow!" Fred said. "I saw it heading that way."

Harry looked at me, absolutely miserable.

"We'll get you a new broom before the next match," I assured him.

For the following weeks leading up to Christmas break, Harry was very sad about the Nimbus. I felt awful, but quite honestly I knew it wasn't my fault. I'd saved him, and he was more important than the broom. It could be replaced, but Harry couldn't.

The last weekend of the term was set to be another Hogsmeade trip. I'd been planning a nice quiet day with my godfather and Harry, which included more hot chocolate and a series of transformations I'd been practicing for their amusement.

But Harry didn't even seem up for it when I told him at breakfast the day before the Hogsmeade visit. He hardly ate, and hardly spoke. I felt horrible since nothing I did was making him happy.

"I don't know what to do!" I said to Fred in the Common Room that evening. "He's going to be so depressed tomorrow and I don't know how to fix it!"

Fred winced. "Well when any of us were sad, Mum would make food."

"He won't eat," I said, covering my face with my hands. "I'm a horrible sister, I should be helping him more... but I don't know what to do!"

I noticed George was staring at me, and I almost felt like snapping at him. But that was not worth it. Snapping at him wouldn't help me get over him.

The next morning, Harry and I walked over to the entrance to dismiss Hermione and Ron. On our way back I was pleading with Harry to come with me to my godfather's office, until we were stopped.

"Psst! Harry! Beth!"

I turned and saw Fred and George peering out from behind the statue of a humpbacked, one eyed witch.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked glumly. "How come you're not going to Hogsmeade?"

"We've come to give you a bit of festive cheer before we go," Fred said, running to me. "Come here..."

He urged us into an empty classroom and pulled out the strange bit of parchment they'd told me was supposedly a map of Hogwarts.

"Early Christmas present for you, Harry," George said, handing Harry the map.

"This is the secret of our success," Fred said. "It's a wrench, giving it to you, but we decided last night to give it to you."

I gazed at the twins in disbelief. They'd decided that after I spoke with Fred!

"We know it by heart," George said. "We bequeath it to you. We really don't need it anymore."

"And what do I need with a bit of old parchment?" Harry asked.

"A bit of old parchment?" Fred asked. "Oh please, Harry. We found this in our first year, and at the end of last year we discovered its secrets."

George took his wand out. "Observe. I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Ink began to appear on the parchment to read "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP."

George opened the piece of parchment and I grinned, seeing it showed what everyone in Hogwarts was doing at all times.

"Most of the secret passages here lead right into Hogsmeade," Fred said. "There are seven in total. Now Filch knows about these four but we're sure us and maybe Beth are the only ones who know about these three. Don't bother with the one behind the mirror on the fourth floor, it's caved in. But this one here leads right into the Honeydukes cellar. The entrance is outside this room through that one eyed old crone's hump."

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," George sighed. "We owe them so much."

"Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers," Fred added.

"Right," George said. "Now don't forget to wipe it after you've used it or anyone can read it."

"Just tap it and say 'Mischief managed' and it'll go blank," Fred said.

"So, young Harry," George said, "mind you behave yourself."

"See you in Honeydukes!" Fred said happily.

Harry looked at me, his expression happier than ever before.

"Can I go?" He asked.

"Sure," I said. "Be careful."

Harry grinned, and decided he first wanted to head to the Gryffindor Common Room to get his Invisibility Cloak.

I looked at the twins, my heart full.

"You guys!" I cried, leaping into Fred's arm and hugging him. "You- you're amazing!"

"Don't thank me," Fred said. "It was George's idea."

I turned to George, and in the thrill of the moment threw my arms around him as well and kissed his cheek, then awkwardly ending up facing him, our mouths inches away.

George looked at me, as though he was struggling to form words.

"Now that you're there, talk like civil beings," Fred said, waving and walking away.

Realizing George had lifted me off my feet, I slowly got down and coughed, feeling my cheeks growing very red and the butterflies going crazy.

"He's right," George said, clearing his throat, his face also very red. "I need to talk to you."

He grabbed my hand and began leading me up to the Common Room.

We didn't speak on the way there and we didn't have to. I found my anger towards him fading away. If he apologized now, it might all end up being okay, and we could be friends again.

"I was a dick," George said immediately as I sat down on the couch. "I was an absolute idiot."

I raised an eyebrow and he sighed, sitting down next to me.

"I've fancied you since you came to Hogwarts," George confessed. "I know all my brothers saw you as just another sister but I didn't. You understood me too much to be like a sister. For the longest time I considered you a friend- my best friend. But then you arrived here, eleven years old, prettier than ever, and you were showing your true self. When we grew up you were always so shy, but when we were at school you started revealing a reckless side that I went CRAZY for. When they told me you fancied me too I didn't want to believe it. Of course I cared, I flirted, but I'd pull away because deep down I knew you needed someone better by your side. Someone who wasn't going to drag you into trouble. Someone who had more to give you. I would never be able to buy you the wonderful presents I'd like to, and I don't even have plans for my future, meanwhile you're one of the smartest girls I've ever known and you're going to succeed. It's a stupid reason and it doesn't make sense and I-I'm sorry. I've been a right prick and you don't deserve that. I never meant for it to hurt you this way, and I'm sorry for making you suffer like this."

I looked at George and breathed heavily.

"George," I whispered, "I fancy you. I fancy you a LOT. I don't mind... oh George... I don't care how much money you have, I fancy you because you're you. I'm just as much of a troublemaker as you are, and I don't mind wether you're the smartest person in school or not. You're George Weasley, and that's all you need to be."

George held my hands tight. "I'm sorry for hurting you, Beth. I won't ever hurt you again, I promise you that."

"I forgive you," I whispered, shaking my head and laughing lightly. "Oh, this was all so stupid! I'm sorry I didn't just admit my feelings straightaway..."

Then we just laughed it off. Laughed it off like nothing had happened, like we hadn't hit a rough patch. We'd connected again, and set aside our attitudes to admit that we in fact, fancies each other.

George was still apologizing profusely, so I challenged him to the game of Wizard's Chess. I'd be needing to explain to my godfather later why I hadn't joined him, but I expected he'd understand. He'd be pleased to know George and I stopped being idiots.

As darkness fell, George scooted closer to me.

"So," George said, breathing deeply. "Elizabeth Lily Potter. I need to ask you. Will-"

The door burst open, and a very angry Harry burst in.

"Harry?" I cried, getting up. "What happened?"

"I just heard a conversation in the Three Broomsticks," he said bitterly. "Did you know that Sirius Black betrayed our parents? That he's the reason they're dead! He betrayed them! And he killed his friend, Peter Pettigrew!"

"Harry!" I cried, feeling my stomach flip. "Harry listen to me, Sirius Black didn't betray Mum and Dad."

"Excuse me?" Harry snarled.

"Peter Pettigrew betrayed them!" I cried. "Sirius Black us innocent- I KNOW he is. I can remember him from before, very clearly! He adored us and them, Harry, he never could have-"

"I can't believe it!" Harry snapped, throwing his cloak off aggressively. "You- you're defending a murderer!"

"Harry!" I wailed as he glared daggers at me. "I'm not- he isn't a murderer-"

"HE'S THE REASON OUR PARENTS ARE DEAD!" Harry roared. "I thought you cared more! Clearly you don't!"

I gaped at him in disbelief and dropped to my knees as Harry stormed upstairs.

"Bloody hell," George said softly. "What was that about?"

Crying, I began telling him about the memories, my godfather's letter, what I'd heard his parents say, meeting Sirius in the castle, helping him escape, Ron's rat being Pettigrew, and being sure that Sirius was innocent.

George listened, and I was almost afraid that I might have permanently scared him off when I finished telling him.

"And now Harry doesn't b-believe me!" I sobbed, wiping my eyes on my sleeve. "He h-hates me now a-and now he m-must think I-I'm some p-psycho."

"Beth," George said at last, taking my hands. "I-I believe you. I think you may be onto something. From what you're saying, it makes sense that Sirius Black is innocent. I mean, Scabbers HAS been alive for ages, and he isn't supposed to be. And he's missing a toe too... Harry doesn't hate you. He's just in shock. He doesn't know who to believe. He'll come around."

George grabbed my face and looked right into my eyes. He pressed a soft kiss on my forehead then caressed my cheek.

Then, he kissed me full on the lips, and I didn't pull away.


	24. Chapter 24

I flipped through the photo album I'd given Harry for his birthday. It had appeared on my bed, without a note.

Sighing, I stopped at the picture of my parents' wedding day. My father was waving at the camera, smiling like a maniac. His arm was around my mother, who was holding her very pregnant belly and leaning on my father's shoulder. Next to my mother were three women holding bouquets: Alice Fortescue, Mary Macdonald, and another one I didn't recognize, grinning and looking to the three men standing on the other side of my father: Sirius, my godfather, and Peter Pettigrew.

There was a light knock on my door. I flicked my wand to open it, and George peeked his head in.

"How did you get up here?" I inquired, going to the door and seeing his body was floating, and at the bottom of the stairs Fred's wand was raised.

"Clever, isn't it?" George asked, smirking. "I wanted to see you. I said to Fred, 'you know Freddie, I think my girlfriend would love to see me fly up to her room."

"Nice," I said, grinning.

He touched my face and pulled me close, kissing me.

"You okay up there, Beth?" Fred called.

"Decent," I said. "Have you seen Harry?"

"Ron's gone to get him out of bed just now," George said. "Join us by the fireplace, we'll wait for him to come downstairs."

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to see me right now," I mumbled. "Or have me as a sister."

"Well you're going to talk," George said. "He hasn't even looked at you in three days. This is stupid. Even we can't spend that long ignoring ickle Ron."

"He hates me," I said. "You never did something as bad as this."

"Shut up," George said. "We turned Ron's teddy bear into a spider and gave him life long anxiety! You didn't do anything wrong, you just decided you believed your memories. Nothing wrong with that."

"Tell that to Harry," I scoffed.

"YOU can tell him," George said. "Come on..."

He held my hand and pulled me out, and I walked down the stairs as he floated next to me.

Minutes later Ron came downstairs with Harry. My brother took one look at me and turned to head back upstairs, but Ron caught his arm and dragged him towards me and the twins.

Harry refused to look at me, and I felt my chest ache.

"Harry, mate, you need to stop ignoring her," Ron said.

"She's defending a murderer," Harry said flatly. "She should apologize to me, and to our parents, since she's basically saying the man responsible for their deaths is some sort of angel—"

"I never said he was an angel," I snapped, rolling my eyes. "I just say he's innocent—"

"Do you hear someone talking, Ron?" Harry said scathingly. "Cause I don't."

"I kept you from bleeding out that night!" I shrieked. "I held you while you cried! I sat there, not knowing what was going on, and my first priority was YOUR safety! I was going to let Quirrel kill me so he wouldn't hurt you! I investigated that diary because you told me to! And I could've stayed with my godfather if I wanted to but I accepted going to live at the Dursleys! I didn't have to do any of that for you, Harry! But I did! All I ask in return is that you fucking LISTEN to me! I'm telling the truth!"

Harry didn't show any signs of having heard anything I said.

"You of all people should know the pain that comes from watching someone die," Harry spat, staring at me furiously. "You heard her scream firsthand. I didn't until a few months ago with the dementor. She screamed that way because she was being killed, and someone who was supposed to be her friend betrayed her, and you're saying it's okay—"

"Sirius Black didn't betray them!" I cried.

"I'm going to kill him," Harry said. "I'm going to kill Sirius Black."

"Are you mad?" Ron said. "You know what Pettigrew's mother got back after Black had finished with him? Fad told me- the Order of Merlin, First Class, and Pettigrew's finger in a box. That was the biggest bit of him they could find. He's a madman and he's dangerous—"

"PETTIGREW was the one that betrayed our parents!" I said. I was about to say it was Ron's stupid rat, but then I'd need to reveal that I'd spoken to Sirius, and only George knew that at the moment.

Hermione, who had been watching from the stairs, came forward at that moment.

"Beth could be right, Harry," Hermione said. "But even if she's wrong, it would be foolish to put yourself in danger! You'd be playing right into Black's hands if you went looking for him! Your mum and dad wouldn't want you to get hurt, would they? They'd never want you to go looking for Black! And for that matter, they wouldn't want you ignoring Beth either! Black could actually be INNOCENT like she says—"

"Well Hermione," Harry said bitterly, "I'll never know what they'd have wanted because thanks to Black, I've never spoken to them."

"Thanks to Pettigrew—"

"Shut up, Elizabeth!" Harry spat. Then he stormed back upstairs, Hermione and Ron running behind him.

"I can't take it," I said, getting up, my hands shaking. "I-I'm going to visit Hagrid."

"We'll come with you," Fred offered.

George slipped his hand into mine and I forced my tears to stay in my eyes.

We went out into the blanket of white snow that had settled over the ground. I suppose the scene should have made me happy, but I didn't.

The day after Harry had stopped talking to me had been my birthday. He didn't so much as look at me. Bixby, Batavia, Katie, and Lee had all gone home for the holidays. It had been a quiet birthday with Hermione, Ron, and the twins. It was miserable the entire time, since I couldn't enjoy it knowing upstairs Harry was probably thinking of life threatening situations to make me sacrifice myself for him so I could lose my powers.

George knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

Fred pressed his ear to the door and made a face. "There's noises inside. Is that... is that his dog, perhaps?"

I pressed my ear to the door as well and listened in. There were low, throbbing moans inside— like someone crying.

"I think he's in there," I said. "Hagrid? It's Beth and the twins.. are you there?"

There was a sound of heavy footsteps, and Hagrid opened the door. His face was red and blotchy, his eyes swollen from crying. His lip was trembling, and large tears were splashing onto his leather vest.

"What's wrong?" George asked.

In response, Hagrid bawled, and pulled us all into a tight hug. Then he let go of us and moved so we could enter. The twins led him to a chair, where he sat down, still sobbing uncontrollably.

"What is it, Hagrid?" I asked gently. "You can tell us."

Hagrid took out a very official looking letter and handed it to Fred, who was nearest to him.

"Dear Mr Hagrid," Fred read, "Further to our inquiry into the attack by a hippogriff on a student in your class, we have accepted the assurances of Professor Dumbledore that you bear no responsibility for the regrettable incident— but Hagrid this is great!"

Hagrid shook his head vigorously, and waved his hand wildly around as if beckoning Fred to read further.

"However," Fred said, grimacing, "we must register our concern about the hippogriff in question. We have decided to uphold the official complaint of Mr Lucius Malfoy, and this matter will therefore be taken to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. The hearing will take place on April 20th, and we ask you to present yourself and your hippogriff at the Committee's offices in London on that date. In the meantime, the hippogriff should be kept tethered and isolated. What a load of rubbish!"

"This was all Malfoy's fault!" George said. "You told him not to insult Buckbeak."

"Buckbeak isn't a bad hippogriff," I said. "I bet he'll head off..."

"Yeh don't know them gargoyles at the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures!" Hagrid gasped. "They've got it in fer interestin' creatures!"

Hagrid blew his nose, and a little clucking sound made me whip around, realizing Buckbeak had been sitting by the entrance, eating something that was oozing blood all over the floor.

"Hi Buckbeak," I cooed, going to sit next to him and patting his head, careful not to be in range of the blood splatter.

"I couldn' leave him tied up out there in the snow," Hagrid choked. "All on his own.. it's Christmas tomorrow."

"Well," I said, "you'll need to put up a strong defense. I'm sure you can prove Buckbeak is safe and Malfoy's just stupid."

"Won't make no difference!" Hagrid sobbed. "Them Disposal devils, they're all in Lucius Malfoy's pocket! Scared o' him! And if I lose the case, Buckbeak..."

He drew a finger across his throat, the gave a loud wail and threw himself onto the table.

"Bet ol' Dumbledore could help," George said.

"He's done more'n enough fer me already," Hagrid groaned. "Got enough on his plate what with keepin' them dementors outta the castle, an' Sirius Black lurkin' around..."

George looked at me, and I sighed, patting Buckbeak's head again.

"You can't give up," George said. "You can call Ron, Hermione, and Harry as witnesses."

"Hermione and I can research cases of hippogriff baiting," I said. "We'll figure out something."

"Then we'll make a good defense, and win," Fred said.

Hagrid howled even louder, and George sighed.

"Shall I make a cup of tea?" He asked. "It's what Mum does whenever someone's upset."

I nodded, and went to help him. Fred and George tried to bring up a happier topic, to no avail.

After about a hundred more assurances of help and volunteering the rest of the gang to help as well, Hagrid finally accepted the steaming mug of tea George and I made for him.

"Yer right," he sighed. "I can' afford to go ter pieces. Gotta pull meself together."

Fang whined, and came out of the bottom of the table and laid his head on Hagrid's knee. Hagrid patted his head and sniffed.

"I've not bin meself lately," Hagrid said. "Worried abou' Buckbeak, an' no one likin' me classes—"

"We do like them!" Fred said, looking at George and I.

"Yeah, they're great!" George said.

"My favorite class," I said. "And you know Bixby loves them too, and Batavia."

"So Hagrid," Fred said, "how are the flobberworms?"

"Dead," Hagrid said bluntly. "Too much lettuce."

"Oh," I said, looking down. I could care less about the flobberworms.

"An' them dementors make me feel ruddy terrible an' all," Hagrid said, shivering. "Gotta walk past 'em ev'ry time I want a drink in the Three Broomsticks. 'S like bein' back in Azkaban—"

He gulped, and closed his eyes tightly.

"It's horrible in there," he gulped. "Never bin anywhere like it. Though' I was goin' mad. Kep' goin' over horrible stuff in me mind... the day I got expelled from Hogwarts.. day me dad died... day I had ter let Norbert go... yeh can' really remember who yeh are after awhile. An' yeh can' really see the point o' livin' at all. I used ter hope I'd jus' die in me sleep. When they let me ou', it was like bein' born again, ev'rythin' came floodin' back, it was the bes' feelin' in the world. Mind, the dementors weren't keen on lettin' me go."

"You were innocent, though!" I said.

"Think that matters to them?" Hagrid snorted. "They don' care. Long as they've got a couple o' hundred humans stuck there with 'em, so they can leech all the happiness out of 'em, they don' give a damn who's guilty an' who's not."

Hagrid sighed loudly.

"Thought o' jus' letting Buckbeak go... tryin' ter make him fly away... but how d'yeh explain ter a hippogriff it's gotta go inter hiding? An' I'm scared o' breakin' the law... I don' ever want ter go back ter Azkaban."

"We'll figure something out," George said. "We promise."

________

The next morning was Christmas, but I didn't feel the same happiness I usually did.

For one, I woke up alone. All the girls in my dormitory had left for holiday.

I got out of bed and put on my slippers. At the foot of my bed was a small pile of presents.

I sat down and opened the first one. Mrs Weasley had sent me another Weasley sweater, which made me smile and slip it on immediately.

The next was a bag of Stink Pellets from Fred. A book about Potions from Hermione. A study guide from Katie. A cloak from Batavia. A fancy quill from Bixby. A necklace from George.

The necklace was silver, and the locket at the bottom was shaped like a real human heart. I unclasped it, and nearly burst into tears all over it.

On one side of the heart was a tiny picture of my father and mother hugging newborn Harry and I. On the other side was a picture of all the Weasleys from their trip to Egypt, with Charlie's face added in the corner.

I closed my hand around the locket and breathed deeply. Then I put it on and pressed it to my chest, tucking it into my robes.

I walked down to the Common Room and found George. Grinning, I leapt into his arms and kissed him full on the lips, making him spin me around and drop me on the couch.

"Did you like it?" He asked.

"Of course!" I said, taking the locket out and kissing it. "You're amazing... my present seems so stupid now..."

"Not at all," George said, taking out the pranking notebook I'd given him. "This is full of ideas you came up with that Fred and I can easily make a reality. It's awesome."

He pulled me into his arms and kissed me again. I heard movement beside us and we broke apart, only to see a scowling Harry and sheepish looking Ron trudge past us and out the portrait hole.

I frowned, and George sighed.

"He'll come around," he assured me. "Let's go have breakfast..."

After eating a quick meal with Fred, we all went out to sit in the snow and talk until lunchtime. Fred really didn't want to talk about anything oner than Angelina, which made George and I have to muffle our laughter as he talked about her like a lovesick five year old. It was cute.

Then we had a snowball fight— or at least tried to. It didn't work so well with only three people, and the twins ganged up on me. I turned into a snow leopard to blend into the snow, which was fun until I ended up with a hairball in my mouth and the twins not only ambushed me with snowballs but also choked on their saliva from how hard they were laughing.

At lunchtime, the tables had disappeared, and instead one large table had been placed in the center. The table was set for twelve, which included some Professors and students, three of them being Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Merry Christmas!" Dumbledore said happily. "As there are so few of us, it seemed foolish to use the House tables. Sit down, sit down!"

Harry went to sit as far away from me as possible, so George led us across the table to sit nearer to McGonagall.

"Crackers!" Dumbledore said excitedly, offering the end of a large silver noisemaker to Snap, who took it and reluctantly tugged. It flew apart with a loud crack to reveal a large, pointed witch's hat topped with a stuffed vulture. Harry and Ron both grinned, but the twins and I didn't understand what it meant.

"Dig in!" Dumbledore said once he'd placed the witch's hat on his head.

We did, of course. The twins ate like we hadn't just had breakfast a few hours ago. Midway through the mean, the doors of the Great Hall opened again, causing Professor Trelawney to enter almost as if she was gliding.

"I'd like to know who told her to wear a green sequined dress," I whispered to George. "She looks like a big dragonfly."

George snorted into his pumpkin juice and smirked at me.

"Sibyll, this is a pleasant surprise!" Dumbledore said, standing up.

"I have been crystal gazing, Headmaster," Trelawney said in a dreamy voice. "And to my astonishment, I saw myself abandoning my solitary luncheon and coming to join you. Who am I to refuse the promptings of fate? I at once hastened from my tower, and I do beg you forgive my lateness..."

"Certainly, certainly!" Dumbledore said. "Let me draw you up a chair."

He waved bis wand and a chair appeared between Snape and McGonagall. Trelawney looked at the chair for a second and screamed softly.

"I dare not, Headmaster!" She cried. "If I join the table, we shall be thirteen! Nothing could be more unlucky! Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die!"

"We'll risk it, Sibyll," McGonagall said impatiently beside me. "Do sit down, the turkey's getting stone cold."

Trelawney hesitated, then it seemed for a moment she might leave, but then she sat down in the chair, eyes shut, mouth clenched tight, almost as if she expected someone to move and drop dead.

"Tripe, Sibyll?"

Trelawney ignored McGonagall, and instead looked around the table. "But where is dear Professor Lupin?"

Full moon. I felt horrible he was stuck in pain today.

"I'm afraid the poor fellow is ill again," Dumbledore said. "Most unfortunate that it should happen on Christmas Day."

He looked at me and I nodded ever so slightly.

"But surely you knew that, Sibyll," McGonagall said briskly, making us all turn to Trelawney, who looked coldly at McGonagall.

"Certainly I knew, Minerva," she said, "but one does not parade the fact that one is all knowing. I frequently act as though I an not possessed of the Inner Eye, so as to not make others nervous."

I didn't know whether to laugh or grimace when McGonagall responded with "that explains a great deal."

"If you must know, Minerva," Trelawney continued, "I have seen that poor Professor Lupin will not be with us for very ling. He seems aware, himself, that his time is short. He positively fled when I offered to crystal gaze for him—"

"Imagine that," McGonagall said dryly.

"I doubt," Dumbledore said, "that Professor Lupin is in any immediate danger. Severus, you made that potion for him again?"

Snape nodded, and I felt myself calm down ever so slightly, although Harry looked very suspiciously at both Snape and I.

After lunch, the twins and I headed back to the Common Room. Just as we'd begun a game of Exploding Snap, Ron began to discuss a Firebolt, which perked up our attention.

"Firebolt?" George inquired.

"Harry's got one!" Ron said, which made Hermione and I's heads snap in their direction.

"Harry," I said, looking intently at him, "please don't tell me you went and bought a Firebolt."

"I didn't," Harry snapped. "It's from an anonymous person."

"I want to know who anonymous is!" Ron said. "Blimey, I want to know who spent that much on you!"

"I'm betting it wasn't the Dursleys," Harry mumbled.

"I bet it was Dumbledore," Ron said as Hermione looked uncertainly at me. "He sent you the Invisibility Cloak anonymously."

"That was my dad's though," Harry said, flashing me a furious look. "Dumbledore was just passing it on to me. He wouldn't spend hundreds of Galleons on me. He can't go giving students stuff like this—"

"That's why he wouldn't say it was from him!" Ron said. "In case some git like Malfoy said it was favoritism! Hey Harry! Malfoy! Wait til he sees you on this! He'll be sick as a pig! This is an international standard broom, that is!"

I looked at the Firebolt in Harry's arms and wondered where the bloody hell it came from.

"I can't believe this," Harry muttered.

"I know who it could have been!" Ron said. "Lupin!"

"He's HER godfather," Harry said scathingly, which made me grit my teeth.

"I doubt it was Professor Lupin," Hermione said at last. "It's a bit odd, isn't it? I mean, it's supposed to be quite a good broom—"

"It's the best broom—"

"So it must've been really expensive."

"Probably cost more than all the Slytherin brooms put together," Ron said happily.

"Well," Hermione said with a sideways glance at me, "who'd send Harry something as expensive as that, and not even tell him they'd sent it?"

I had my suspicions. Sirius, of course. He was filthy rich thanks to his parents, and he WAS Harry's godfather.

"Can I have a go on it, Harry?" Ron asked. "Can I?"

"I don't think anyone should ride that broom just yet," Hermione said.

"What d'you think Harry's going to do with it, sweep the floor?" Ron asked.

Just then, Addy leapt onto my lap, looking at Ron.

"That bloody cat is back," Ron hissed. I patted Addy's back, which made her jump straight at Ron's chest, where the rat squeaked.

"GET— IT— OUT— OF— HERE!" Ron bellowed as Addy began to claw furiously at his shirt, making Scabbers wail so loudly it was a wonder it didn't just turn back into Peter Pettigrew.

"Take that cat out of here!" Ron snapped to Hermione and I.

"Addy," I cooed, making her come and rest on my lap, which made George smile and Ron scowl.

Hermione then rolled her eyes and scooped Addy up, exiting the portrait hole.

Ron took Scabbers out, and I saw George flash me a look. I'd never had a greater urge to become a lion and eat a rat.

"He's not looking too good, is he?" Harry mumbled.

"It's stress!" Ron said. "He'd be fine if that big stupid furball left him alone!"

Shaking my head as Harry cast another angry glance at me, I kept playing Exploding Snap with the twins. Awhile afterward, Hermione came in with McGonagall.

"Potter," she said, looking to Harry. "I'll be needing your broom."

"What for?" Harry asked indignantly, making the twins and I look up.

"It will need to be checked for jinxes," McGonagall said sharply. "Of course I'm no expert, but I daresay Madam Hooch and Professor Flitwick will strip it down—"

"Strip it down?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"It shouldn't take more than a few weeks," Professor McGonagall said. "You will gave it back if we are sure it is jinx free."

Harry looked angrier at her than he did at me. "There's nothing wrong with it! Honestly, Professor—"

"You can't know that, Potter," McGonagall said in a motherly sort of voice, "not until you've flown it, at any rate, and I'm afraid that is out of the question until we are certain it has not been tampered with. I shall keep you informed."

Harry reluctantly gave her the Firebolt and shot me a nasty glare, as if this was my fault. The instant McGonagall left, the boys turned to Hermione.

"What did you go running to McGonagall for?" Ron snarled.

"Because I thought— and Professor McGonagall agrees with me— that that broom was probably sent to Harry by Sirius Black!" Hermione cried.

Fuming, Harry stormed upstairs and Ron followed him, looking angry as well. Hermione turned to me, her eyes filled with tears.

"Hermione," I said gently, opening my arms. She ran into them and started sobbing.

"I-I'm j-just t-t-trying to h-help," she stammered as I stroked her head.

"I know," I said soothingly, which made Fred and George frown in the direction of the stairs where Harry and Ron had disappeared.

Hermione refused to cry for too long, and immediately headed upstairs after a few minutes of it. Fred sighed and shook his head, putting away the Exploding Snap materials and heading upstairs.

"Sirius MUST have sent that broom," I said to George. "But he'd have never jinxed it."

"I believe you," George said, putting his arm around me and kissing my cheek softly.


	25. Chapter 25

"You HAVE to start talking."

Harry looked at Wood, rolled his eyes, and turned to face Ron completely, who looked at him with a scowl and shrugged to me.

Wood turned to me, and Batavia solemnly leaned against his shoulder.

"Don't look at me," I said, staring bitterly at Harry. "He's the one that won't talk to me."

"Harry, mate," Ron said, "she's your sister."

"She's only been my sister for the past two years," Harry said coldly. "It doesn't count."

George slowly put a hand on my shoulder as my lip began to tremble.

"I need my Seeker and Chaser speaking to each other," Wood said sharply. "I don't know how we'll do if you two—"

"No," Harry snapped, getting up and storming upstairs.

"Okay," Bixby mumbled as he and Katie took Harry and Rob's now empty spaces, "that intervention didn't go as planned."

"I don't even know who's angrier," Hermione said. "Harry at Beth or Ron at me."

She and I were in the same boat right now. Ron was absolutely furious will her for telling McGonagall about the Firebolt. Harry was mad at Hermione too, but we all agreed he still exhibited more anger towards me than towards her.

"Hopefully once Professor Lupin trains him to ward off dementors he'll calm down," Wood sighed. "A Patronus charm at his age will burn of a lot of steam..."

"I hope it does," I said. "And er— since when is my godfather giving him lessons?"

"Apparently he offered one day when he went to talk to him before holiday ended," Wood said.

"Hmm," I said, wondering why my godfather hadn't told me anything about it. Had Harry told him not to?

Once we'd been back in school for a week, I slowly started to realize that I felt like shit continuously— which is probably a really bad thing.

First of all, I was growing more and more depressed that Harry wasn't speaking to me. I'd lost the ability to shapeshift— I simply couldn't concentrate enough. Batavia says if I don't try and stay strong I'll lose my powers on my own accord, and I guess I don't want that to happen, but I can't just stop being sad.

Secondly, I had to deal with Batavia screaming about how she finally started growing breasts and measuring them every morning, which has been a nightmare for Katie and I.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts during the second week, my godfather finally mentioned the classes with Harry.

Everyone was leaving when the bell rang, and he called me over to his desk.

"Yes?" I asked, catching him staring at the bags under my eyes.

"Have you been sleeping much?" He asked.

"No," I said glumly.

"Why not?" He asked. "Have you and George been staying up late talking? No shame in it— I remember your parents just sat and talked for hours—"

"It's not about George," I sighed. "Harry won't talk to me and I stay up trying to figure out what the hell I should do and Batavia's constantly measuring her breasts in the morning and—"

"You're not speaking? I assume that he hasn't told you about the lessons, then?" My godfather interrupted.

"No," I said, narrowing my eyes. "I thought he might've told you not to invite me or something— did you really not know we weren't talking?"

"I had no idea," my godfather said. "He came once, and whenever you come you don't talk about him— I didn't know what to think."

"It's about Sirius," I said, sitting down and rubbing my temples.

"Excuse me?"

"Sirius Black. I told Harry that I don't think he's the one that betrayed our parents."

"If you're basing yourself off our letter—"

"I'm not," I said, looking down, "and I didn't tell Harry about it, in case you're wondering, he eavesdropped on a bunch of teachers at the Three Broomsticks—"

"Elizabeth, you don't have enough evidence to support what you said, why would you say it?"

"Because I know—"

"HOW do you know?" My godfather demanded.

I opened my mouth to speak and then closed it.

"I just know," I said fiercely. "I trust my memories."

"Memories are clouded by emotion, Elizabeth," my godfather said sharply. "You can't trust—"

"Well I do!" I shrieked, breathing heavily. "And I don't regret defending Sirius! He was your best friend, I expect you'd know who was more likely to betray my parents, him or Peter Pettigrew—"

"Elizabeth, there isn't any evidence—"

"I don't need any!" I snarled, restraining myself from revealing that my information came from a primary source, also known as Sirius Black himself.

My godfather sighed loudly. "At any rate... he was supposed to tell you about Patronus lessons. Eight o'clock, Tuesday evening, the History of Magic classroom."

"Harry won't want me there," I said flatly.

"I'm the teacher here," my godfather said. "If my two students don't like each other it's not my problem, you both need to learn how to ward off dementors, and I plan to teach you. Whether Harry wants you there or not isn't of my concern—"

"If you want him to actually learn then maybe we should have lessons at different times," I said.

"Elizabeth," my godfather said, "your lessons will force you to talk to each other. Now that I know what's going on between you two I'm certain this will work. Either way, I find you'll be NEEDING each other's company to get through this."

I sighed and shrugged, tapping my fingers hard against the desk.

"Eight o'clock Tuesday," my godfather said. "I expect to see you there. Now head to lunch."

"Thanks," I mumbled, leaving the classroom and biting my tongue to stop myself from shouting back that I'd talked to Sirius.

_______

Tuesday evening came, and I went straight to my godfather's office.

He was inside, locking up a large packing case.

"What's that?" I asked.

"I'll tell you when we get to the classroom," he said, lifting the case. "Now let's head over, Harry will be wondering where we are—"

"Where YOU are—"

"Try and talk to him, please, Elizabeth."

"I HAVE been trying, he won't even look at me."

My godfather sighed and shook his head. We walked to the History of Magic classroom in silence, and found Harry inside.

When he saw me enter he scowled, and looked away.

"In these lessons you will treat each other in a civilized manner," my godfather said, putting the case on a desk. "I don't care how much you refuse to talk to each other— if I say you must have a conversation, then you will. This is a process you must undergo together. You both hear your mother screaming upon being near a dementor, you both have felt pain beyond belief, you NEED each other. This won't be an easy process."

Harry rolled his eyes, then looked at the case. "What's that?"

"Another boggart," my godfather said, taking off his cloak. "I've been combing the castle ever since Tuesday and very luckily, I found this one lurking inside Mr Filch's filing cabinet. It's the nearest we'll get to a real dementor. The boggart will turn into a dementor when he sees Harry, so we'll be able to practice with that. I can manage a spell to keep it in that form for Elizabeth to practice as well. We'll store the boggart in my office when we're not using him; there's a cupboard under my desk he'll like."

"Okay," Harry said. I nodded, and my godfather cleared his throat.

"So," he said, taking out his wand, "both of you are not of age to learn this spell, as it is well beyond Ordinary Wizarding Level. It is called a patronus charm. Do either of you know what that is?"

I raised my hand, and my godfather motioned for me to answer.

"A patronus is like a guardian that acts as a shield from a dementor. It appears silvery, and typically takes the form of a specific animal if the spell is strong enough," I said.

"Exactly," my godfather said.

"The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the dementor feeds upon— hope, happiness, the desire to survive— but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the dementors can't hurt it. But I must warn you, Harry and Elizabeth, that the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it."

"We can do this," I mumbled.

"How is it conjured?" Harry asked, ignoring me entirely.

"With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating with all your might on a single, very happy memory."

I wondered what memory I could use. First learning to ride a broom? When I got my first award in Muggle school and godfather got me a cake? When George and I first kissed?

"Alright," my godfather said, making me snap back to reality. "The incantation is expecto patronum."

Expecto Patronum. Easy enough.

"Elizabeth first," my godfather said.

I raised my wand and concentrated hard on the first time George and I's lips met.

"Expecto patronum!"

A very light silvery gas exited my wand.

"Good good," my godfather said, "now Harry."

Harry stepped forward and closed his eyes, concentrating. "Expecto Patronum!"

The silvery gas that exited his wand was a lot brighter than mine.

"Did you see that?" Harry asked excitedly. "Something happened!"

"Very good," my godfather said. "Right then, ready to try it on a dementor?"

"Sure," I said.

"Okay," my godfather said. "Harry will close his eyes and stand in front of the boggart so it becomes a dementor while I cast a spell to freeze it in that form. When that is done I'll ask him to step back so Elizabeth can try her spell."

Not looking at me, Harry nodded and stepped forward as my godfather opened the case.

A dementor rose slowly out of it, and my godfather flicked his wand, then pushing Harry back. I stepped forward and stared at the dementor.

Even if I knew it wasn't real, it wasn't enough. Despite thinking of the joy I felt the first time I rode a broom, seeing the dementor made me feel a great sense of dread and cold.

"E-Expecto patronum," I said, my hand trembling, "expecto p-patronum, e-expecto p-p-patronum..."

I felt myself collapse, and immediately heard voices, and relived the scene again

" _Stand aside, girl...." Voldemort hissed._

_"Not Elizabeth and Harry, please..." my mother said, her body shielding me._

_"Move aside!" Voldemort snarled, pointing his wand at her._

_"Take me instead, kill me, not them—" my mother begged as I pulled at the fabric of her sleeve._

_"Avada Kedavra!_ "

I felt a huge pain in my head as my mother's piercing scream rang out, and then I felt someone slap me.

"Fuck off—"

"Elizabeth!" My godfather said.

I sat up abruptly, and felt my head spin. I grasped my temples and groaned, looking up sheepishly at him.

"Sorry," I said in a soft voice.

He pursed his lips and shoved a Chocolate Frog into my hands.

"Are you all right?" He asked.

"I saw her die again," I mumbled. "So no."

"Eat the chocolate," my godfather urged, looking worriedly at me.

I took a bite out of the Chocolate Frog and saw Harry staring at me from the corner of his eye.

"Now let's have Harry take his turn," my godfather said, helping me up to sit in one of the desks. Harry stepped forward, his wand raised.

The dementor rose again.

"Expecto patronum!" Harry yelled. "Expecto patronum! Expecto—"

Then he too, collapsed, and my godfather caught him before he hit the floor.

Harry moaned and opened his eyes slowly, receiving a Chocolate Frog as well.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, my voice hoarse.

"I'm fine," he said flatly. It was progress, he was finally speaking to me. "It's getting worse, Uncle Remus. I could hear her louder that time— and him— Voldemort..."

My godfather looked at me, and I could tell he'd turned pale.

"Maybe we should stop here," he said. "If you two don't want to continue I will more than understand—"

I do!" Harry snapped, stuffing the Chocolate Frog in his face. "I've got to! What if the dementors turn up at our match against Ravenclaw? I can't afford to fall off again. We could lose this time and then we'll have lost the Quidditch Cup!"

"All right then," my godfather said. "Elizabeth, if you're up for it, you first. Whatever memory you chose, maybe think of a happier one. That one doesn't seem to have been strong enough."

Nodding, I stood up and walked slowly toward the boggart. My godfather pulled off the lid of the case and pushed Harry back and cast a spell as the dementor materialized.

I thought of the surprise birthday party the Weasleys threw me when I turned ten.

I still felt icy cold and like the room turned dark. As hard as I concentrated on the spell and the memory, I couldn't manage anything. I collapsed and went back to my past.

" _Take the children and run, Lily!" My father cried. "It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"_

_My mother stared fearfully at my father and sprinted forward to pick Harry and I up, clutching us close to her chest and sprinting upstairs._

Gasping, I broke out of the memory and wheezed as I felt more pain in my head. Another Chocolate Frog was shoved into my face and I took a desperate bite out of it, heaving.

"My dad," I croaked as my godfather wiped my face with a cloth, "I heard him, I never heard him with a dementor before... oh Merlin..."

I broke down in tears, feeling Harry's eyes on me.

"He d-didn't e-even have a wand!" I cried. "He left h-his wand on the t-t-table when h-he was e-entertaining H-Harry!"

I sobbed louder, and my godfather pulled me into his chest. I hugged him tight, feeling an immense sense of tightness in my chest.

"I need another go," Harry said abruptly. I whimpered and moved back as Harry stepped forward. I looked away and closed my eyes tight when the dementor materialized.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry bellowed. "EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO..."

I heard Harry's sink to the floor and opened my eyes to see him sitting down.

In front of him, a silvery shape was in the air. It wasn't anything I recognized just yet,.

"Excellent!" My godfather said, putting the boggart in the case and bringing another Chocolate Frog over. "Excellent Harry, that was definitely a start!"

"Can I have another go?" Harry asked. "Just one more go? Please, Uncle Remus?"

"Not now," my godfather said. "You've both had enough for one night. Now both of you eat a lot of chocolate or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood. Same time next week?"

"Yep," I said, my voice shaky.

Harry got up and left, and I slowly rose to my feet, breathing heavily and trembling as I gripped the desk for support.

"He did it," I said quietly. "He already made a shape and I can't... I can't..."

"He isn't affected as badly as you are," my godfather said. "Yes he faints all the same, but he only hears the voices. You SEE what you lived that day. I suspect it'll take a lot more work from you to get it."

"Hmm," I said, sighing. "Alright. Thanks Uncle Remus... goodnight."

I walked all the way back to the Common Room alone, and found George was asleep on the couch.

"Hey," I whispered, sitting beside him and gently shaking him.

He woke with a start, and smiled.

"You're back," he said. "How was it?"

"Bad," I said. "It was too much for me to handle. I keep seeing it happen over and over again...."

I drew a shaky breath, and George sat up, rubbing my back.

"Sometimes," I said, my voice cracking, "sometimes I wish I could just press my wand to my forehead and forget it. I don't like being able to remember it clear as day."

"Beth," George said quietly, opening his arms. As silent tears began to stream down my cheeks, I rested into his chest and closed my eyes as he stroked my hair, holding me as I cried, wondering if I'd ever manage to ward off a dementor.

_______

The stress levels I ended up with before the Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor game was so much that I nearly had a mental breakdown a few days before it.

My friends and I had been investigating law textbooks like crazy trying to figure out how to help Buckbeak's trial. At this rate, all of us agreed the outcome didn't look too good— none of the creatures won anything.

Hermione and I had talked so much lately that I told her all about meeting Sirius in the Potions classroom. As appalled as she was at first, she understood, and we both tried to leave Addy out at night to try and eat Scabbers.

The worst part was that Harry and I still hadn't spoken. It seemed he was growing more tolerable of my presence especially since we had patronus lessons and such but it was not enough for him to actually talk to me.

My godfather, George, and I were growing worried about this. Not only had I lost the ability to shape shift because of how sad I was, but I was starting to struggle with reading minds and turning invisible. I couldn't summon anything into my hand anymore. I was really afraid that I'd allowed myself to get so sad that I'd made myself lose all my powers.

A few days before the match, Harry and I had another patronus lesson. Harry seemed to be improving a lot, and managed an indistinct silvery shadow every time he came across the boggart, although it was still too feeble to drive it away. It kind of hovered in front of it, then disappeared after awhile.

Meanwhile, I hadn't even managed a small puff of smoke in the face of the dementor-boggart. I could make a faint shape when I wasn't in front of it, but the instant I was facing it I couldn't manage anything.

"Why doesn't my Patronus charge the dementors down or something?" Harry asked my godfather after I collapsed again, adding another bruise to my tired bottom.

"The true Patronus does that," my godfather said as he helped me up and handed me some chocolate. "But you've achieved a great deal in a very short space of time. If the dementors put in an appearance at your next Quidditch match, you'll be able to keep them at bay long enough to get back to the ground."

"You said it's harder if there are loads of them," Harry said as I sat down on a desk two seats away from him.

"I have complete confidence in you," my godfather said. "Even you, Elizabeth."

Harry looked at me, then turned to my godfather. "I don't get it. I thought she'd produce a Patronus better than me. She's stronger."

"Not anymore," I mumbled.

"Why not?" Harry asked, looking at me with a bit of worry for the first time in awhile.

"She's in too bad of a state at the moment," my godfather said, eyeing Harry. "In fact, I think it's about time you two began to talk again. I told you that you needed each other for this process and not once have you tried to help each other."

"He's the one that won't talk to me," I said glumly.

"But she—"

"Enough!" My godfather said. "Harry, did you know Elizabeth's lost her powers?"

Harry stared at me in disbelief. "She what?"

"She lost her powers," my godfather repeated. "She's been in such a depressed state that she can no longer use any of her powers. That on top of the things she witnessed as a mere child are making it very difficult for her to produce even a small Patronus. Whatever anger you have needs to be set aside, right now. She NEEDS you, Harry, she needs your help."

"He doesn't want to help me," I said coldly, "and I don't need his help."

"Elizabeth," Harry said, moving closer to me. "I-I didn't know. I'm sorry... holy Hufflepuff I'm sorry."

"No you're not," I hissed, feeling tears coming to my eyes. "You hate me... I can tell—"

"You're my sister," Harry said quietly. "I could never hate you. I-I'm just— I was in disbelief when you said you believed Sirius Black was innocent. I guess you might be right that he is but I just— I needed someone to blame for us growing up with horrible lives and... and I guess when I found out it was his fault I felt like a sense of relief, knowing I could hate him, but when you said he was innocent I was confused because now it was a mystery again and I felt like you were defending a murderer and... I'm sorry Beth. I-I didn't mean for you to get so sad that you lost your powers... I didn't think you were that sad, you have George—"

"Of course I'm miserable, Harry!" I cried. "You're my baby brother and for a month and a half you didn't so much as look at me! George wasn't enough, I wanted my brother back... oh Harry I love you, and I loved you even if we didn't grow up together, because you're my only true family left and I-I didn't want you to hate me, I wanted us to get a-a-along..."

I burst into tears, and Harry came forward and wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm sorry," he said, beginning to cry too. "I'm sorry Beth... I'm sorry... "

I sobbed into his shoulder, and felt my godfather staring at both of us— probably glad that we made up.

"What memory are you thinking of?" Harry asked as he tightened his hug. "Maybe it's not happy enough."

"I d-don't h-have a s-set m-m-memory," I said, squeezing my eyes shut. "I-I c-can't think of o-one. This last time I used the one w-where G-George and I k-kissed for the f-f-first time..."

"When was that?" Harry asked.

"The day that y-you... s-stopped talking to m-me..."

"Beth," Harry said softly, "that's not happy enough..... that day I made you miserable.... it needs to be happier..."

"Well, what m-memory do y-you use?" I inquired, wiping my eyes.

"The day we first met," Harry said. "I was really happy that day, I found out I had a better family than what I thought, and I knew I never had to suffer the Dursleys alone anymore. Since then you've made my life better. It's nice having an older sister who defends me and cares about me. Oh Beth I'm sorry..."

"I'll use that memory," I said, trembling as I broke out of Harry's arms and stood up, my wand raised.

My godfather slowly opened the lid of the case and the dementor exited.

Concentrating hard on that day a few years ago, I drew a deep breath and stared with determination at the dementor.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A medium sized cloud of silvery vapor erupted from my wand and lingered in front of me. I gasped, and covered my mouth with my hands as I squealed joyfully, my godfather stepping forward to put the boggart away.

"You did it!" Harry said happily, getting up and hugging me.

"Well," my godfather said, beaming at us, "the lesson is over then. Very good, Elizabeth. Now both of you... be nice to each other. As many friends as you both have, you must know you've really only got each other as family. Don't let something like this tear you apart again."

Smiling, I leapt into my godfather's arms and hugged him as well. Harry came beside me, and my godfather enclosed us all in a group hug.

Harry and I then walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Along the way, McGonagall returned his Firebolt, and at the entrance Harry and Ron agreed to stop being mad at Hermione.

For a moment I thought perhaps it was all better, until a piercing scream was heard from the boy's dormitory— where Ron had just gone to give Scabbers (stupid Pettigrew) his rat tonic

He came running down, dragging a bedsheet with him.

"What happened?" I asked.

"LOOK!" Ron snarled, waving the bedsheet for Hermione and I to see. "SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!"

There was blood on the sheets. I sucked my breath in.

"BLOOD!" Ron bellowed. "HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"

"N-no," Hermione gasped.

Ron pulled out several ginger cat hairs, threw them on the floor, and stormed up.

Hermione burst into tears and fell into my arms. I half expected Harry to stop talking to me again, but to my surprise he hugged Hermione and I.

Addy had killed Pettigrew, but it seemed to have costed Hermione and I our friendship with Ron.


	26. Chapter 26

As angry as Ron was about Scabbers' death, it was no reason for him to treat Hermione like crap. He blamed her mostly, and I tried to make a point that I hadn't thought Addy would hurt Scabbers (although I of course had greatly encouraged her to) but for some reason he still felt more anger toward Hermione than me.

"Come on, Ron," Fred said one day that Ron was complaining about her. "You were always saying how boring Scabbers was. And he's been off color for ages, he was wasting away. It was probably better for him to stuff it quickly— one swallow— he probably didn't feel a thing."

George and I stifled laughs as Ginny slapped Fred's shoulder.

"All he did was eat and sleep," George said. "You said it yourself, Ron."

"He bit Goyle for us once," Ron said miserably. "Remember, Harry?"

"Yeah that's true," Harry said.

"His finest hour," Fred said, unable to keep a straight face. "Let the scar on Goyle's finger stand as a lasting tribute to his memory. Oh come on, Ron, get yourself down to Hogsmeade and buy a new rat, what's the point of moaning?"

But Ron would hear nothing of it. Instead, he whined a bit more and then went upstairs with Harry.

"Well then," Fred said. "I tried to help."

"No you didn't," Ginny said. "It wasn't funny."

"It kind of was," George said, grinning and putting his arm around me.

Ginny shook her head and left.

"These kids are so sensitive," Fred said. "Honestly— if that rat really was Pettigrew then good riddance. They just don't get it, do they?"

"Nope," I said. "They don't."

"Well I'm up to bed," Fred said, yawning into his hand. "Don't stay up too late doing that Potions essay."

"You said you were going to stay up and do it with us!" I said.

"Nah," Fred said. "I don't want to."

"It's OWL year," I said. "We have the test in a few months— oh come on!"

"I'd rather sleep, Beth," Fred said. "Goodnight."

I sighed as he went upstairs, and George shrugged.

"We don't need OWLs to run a joke shop," he said. "I suppose I'll only be getting three... Potions, Transfiguration, and Charms."

"I'm sure you could get more," I said.

"Probably not," George said. "I don't care enough."

"You have the capacity to get Os in every subject," I said. "You just need to try harder."

"Eh," George said, smiling and leaning over to press a kiss onto my cheek. "Do we REALLY need to do that Potions essay?"

"Yes."

"Nah."

"We can snog for as long as you'd like if you do it with me right now," I bribed.

George raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I've changed my mind."

I laughed, glad that I'd managed to convince him to do the essay.

An hour later, he was prepared to collect his reward.

"I'm done," he said, puckering up his lips.

"I've got to proofread it first," I said, beginning to scan his parchment.

He whined and leaned onto me, kissing my cheek. I smiled and continued to read, but then he kissed my neck and took it upon himself to swat the parchment out of my hand.

"George," I said, "come on—"

"Pay up, Beth," he said, moving my face to press a firm kiss on my lips. "My essay is shit anyway... but it's done."

I rolled my eyes and smirked, moving to sit facing him so I could kiss him again.

"You have nice lips," George said.

"Oh?" I said, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah they're... nice."

"Please elaborate."

"Aw Beth I'm all out of elaboration I did a load of that in that essay..."

"Okay. Your lips are... nice too."

"Is that supposed to be an insult?"

"Do you want it to be?"

In response, he smirked snd kissed me again.

"Bloody hell," Fred said from the foot of the stairs, shaking his head and coming down to collect his bag, which he'd left behind. "You really talk about lips? Just snog already."

"It's the little things, Fred," I said soothingly as I patted George's head, reaching down to pick his essay up off the floor to proofread it.

"Goodnight then, lovebirds," Fred said, hopping up the stairs three at a time.

"I'm offended," George said. "I always considered myself more of a lion. Lovelion."

"What?" I said, bursting into laughter.

"If I were an animal I'd be a lion," George said simply. "You... you'd be a lizard."

"Okay, did you say that because my name can be shortened to 'Liz' or because—"

"Because you stick your tongue out when you're thinking. It's cute."

Blushing, I smiled and looked away, which made George grin triumphantly.

_________

The night before the Quidditch game against Ravenclaw, we started practice late because Madam Hooch simply wouldn't stop admiring Harry's Firebolt.

"Look at the balance of it!" She marveled. "If the Nimbus series has a fault, it's a slight list to the tail end— you often find they develop a drag after a few years. They've updated the handle too, a bit slimmer than the Cleansweeps, reminds me of the old Silver Arrows. A pity they stopped making them. I learned to fly on one, and a very fine old broom it was too..."

"Er— Madam Hooch?" Wood asked. "Is it okay if Harry has the Firebolt back? We need to practice."

Snickering, George and I watched as Madam Hooch hastily handed the Firebolt back to my brother and moved to the side so we could practice.

"Okay," Wood said, wringing his hands together. "All of us should be prepared to practice. Now Harry, I've just found out who Ravenclaw is playing as Seeker. It's Cho Chang. She's a fourth year, and she's pretty good... I really hoped she wouldn't be fit, she's had some problems with injuries. On the other hand, she rides a Comet Two Sixty, which is going to look like a joke next to the Firebolt—"

"Okay, hold up," I said, making Batavia suddenly let go of Wood's arm. "The player catches the Snitch, Wood, not the broom. She's a damn good Seeker. Not as good as Harry but still good. Don't make it about the broom."

"Well the broom certainly helps," Wood said sheepishly. "Sorry."

Batavia giggled and shook her head.

Harry seemed to be having the time of his life soaring around on the Firebolt while the rest of us played a full on game. He was diving and doing tricks like crazy— a little too often, in my opinion.

"He's really enjoying himself, isn't he?" George noticed as the Snitch was let out. Within ten seconds, Harry caught it.

"We've got tomorrow's game in the bag!" I said happily as the rest of the team cheered madly.

Harry let the Snitch go again, gave it a minute's head start, then caught it again, right in front of Katie's knee.

"Careful now, Harry!" George called. "Don't want to make Bixby jealous.."

Laughing, I tossed the Quaffle to Angelina, who wanted to practice scoring on Wood.

"I can't see what's going to stop us tomorrow!" Wood said pleasantly at the end of practice. "Not unless— Harry, you've sorted out your dementor problem, haven't you?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "And Beth's ready to help me."

"The dementors won't turn up again, Oliver," George said confidently. "Dumbledore'd go ballistic."

"Excellent," Wood said. "And let's hope not. Good work everyone. Let's go back to the tower... turn in early."

"I'll be in in a minute," I said to George, patting his shoulder. "Ron wants to go on the Firebolt."

"I'll stay then," George said, waving for Fred to go inside. The latter happily entered the changing room, and ran straight to Angelina past a snogging Wood and Batavia.

"I reckon those two are going to get married, what with the way they snog," George said. "Can't imagine Oliver caring about someone else the way he does for Batavia."

"It's cute," I said. "And to think it was only three years ago that she met him and told me instantly that she had the BIGGEST crush on him."

"I had the biggest crush on you," George stated as Ron mounted the Firebolt behind us, cheering.

"And I was too stupid to notice," I said.

"And I was too stupid to tell you," George commented.

"Are we both just stupid?" I asked.

"We're idiots," George said, grinning and putting his arm around me. "But it doesn't matter anymore. Here we are now, fifteen and carefree."

"What's the matter?" We heard Ron ask.

George and I both whipped around, expecting to see Harry passed out on the floor or something.

Instead, he was pointing to a pair of yellow eyes.

"Lumos!" Ron said.

The beam of light illuminated the field, and Addy came out from a bush.

"Get out of here!" Ron roared. Addy hissed at him and came trotting to me, and rubbed against my legs. I picked her up and patted her head.

"You're both still letting her wander out where she pleases!" Ron snapped. "The cat's probably washing Scabbers down with a couple of birds now..."

"Addy needs freedom," I said coldly. "Not my fault she's a cat."

Ron scowled and shook his head, then joined Harry in walking into the changing room.

George patted Addy's head and smiled. "Good girl. Eating bad Pettigrew."

Addy purred loudly, and closed her eyes, enjoying how George was caressing her.

"She likes me!" George said. "You're a sweetie... aren't you?"

"Aw," I said. "You're a cat person. I always thought you might be a dog person..."

"I love dogs," George said. "But also cats. I can be a dat or cog person."

"Dat or cog?" I questioned.

"You know, dog and cat mashed together can be dat or cog...."

I laughed, and George put his arm around me and began leading me into the changing room, Addy purring lightly in my arms.

_______

"Did you see his face?" Ron asked happily as we passed Malfoy at the Slytherin table— Harry with Firebolt in hand.

"He's probably going to go cry to his father and ask for a Firebolt," I said, making George snicker.

"You're my Firebolt," he said.

"What?" I asked, bewildered.

"The thing I treasure above all others," he said.

"Oh shut up," Ron groaned, making Harry laugh.

"I wasn't telling YOU, Ronnie—"

At this point, I was blushing so much that I could barely stutter a "thank you" without my face growing as red as my hair.

We sat down at the Gryffindor table, George putting his arm around me and kissing my cheek as people from other houses came to marvel the broom.

"Penelope and I have got a bet on," Percy said proudly. "Ten Galleons on the outcome of the match! Harry—"

He leaned down to Harry's level and in an urgent whisper said "make sure you win. I haven't got ten Galleons."

Then he left, and George made a face.

"Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?"

Behind Harry, Malfoy and his goons had appeared.

"Yeah, reckon so," Harry said flatly.

"Got plenty of special features, hasn't it?" Malfoy sneered. "Shame it doesn't come with a parachute— in case you get too near a dementor."

"Pity you can't attach an extra arm to yours, Malfoy," Harry retaliated immediately. "Then it could catch the Snitch for you."

Howling with laughter, the entire Gryffindor team watched Malfoy stalk away angrily.

At a quarter to eleven we all headed out to the locker rooms. The weather was incredible today, it was a clear, cool day, with a light breeze and definitely no visibility problems.

"I'm putting my wand in this shirt I'm wearing under the Quidditch robes," Harry said as we got dressed. "In case the dementors come."

"Good idea," I said. "And if they do, we'll be ready."

Harry grinned.

He had yet to make a fully corporeal Patronus, but thanks to his help I'd achieved one. It was hippopotamus.

George had laughed when I told him, but once Bixby jumped in and explained that hippos were more hardcore than we'd all initially thought, I was given more respect. My patronus was a beauty, and I loved her— though not as much as Bixby loved her. Sometimes I think he might find a way to get a pet hippo.

"You know what we've got to do," Wood said as we prepared ourselves to walk onto the field. "If we lose this match, we're out of the running. Just— just fly like you did in practice yesterday and we'll be okay!"

Wood gulped, looking more nervous than I'd ever seen him before. Thus, Batavia felt it necessary to plant a firm kiss on his lips and smack his arse to send him onto the field.

"Want me to smack your arse?" I teased George.

"Nah I want you to kiss me," he said, pecking me quickly on the lips before the people behind us pushed us out.

The field looked just fine. It was dry for one, and it wasn't overly sunny.

Across from us, the Ravenclaw team was about to meet us at the center of the field.

I caught Harry staring at Cho Chang, Ravenclaw's Seeker and the only girl on the team. I saw her flash a smile his way, and knew instantly Harry had found her attractive.

"Wood, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch said briskly.

Davies and Wood did a firm handshake and nodded to each other.

"Mount your brooms... on my whistle... three... two... one—"

The whistle blew and I soared into the air, slapping the Quaffle away from Davies' hands and straight into Katie's, who dove under the Ravenclaws and began speeding down the pitch.

"And they're off!" Lee announced. "The big excitement this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship—"

"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" McGonagall interrupted.

"Right you are, Professor, just giving a bit of background information on the Firebolt. Incidentally, it has a built in auto brake and—"

"Jordan!"

"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor, who has already scored once, has passed it to Elizabeth Potter, who passes to Angelina Johnson— pass back to Potter— GRYFFINDOR SCORE!"

The stands went wild as Lee announced that we were now twenty points ahead of Ravenclaw.

"—now Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, thanks to two goals by Katie Bell, two from Angelina Johnson, and four from Elizabeth Potter. And look at that Firebolt go! Harry Potter's really putting it through his paces now, see it turn— Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision- balance is really noticeable in these long—"

"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!"

I laughed and tossed the Quaffle to Angelina, who faked a throw and dove under the Ravenclaw Beater to score another goal for Gryffindor.

Then Ravenclaw scored three goals, which I noticed made Wood more nervous.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Harry speeding toward the Gryffindor goal post. Suddenly, Cho Chang blocked him.

"HARRY THIS IS NO TIME TO BE A GENTLEMAN!" Wood roared. "KNOCK HER OFF HER BROOM IF YOU HAVE TO!"

Shaking my head, I smirked and dodged a Bludger. George appeared beside me and sent it straightaway toward the oncoming Davies.

"Hey beautiful," he said with a grin as I laughed and caught the Quaffle, flying below George and swirling in midair to avoid the two Ravenclaw Chasers.

Just as the Quaffle entered the hoop, I heard "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

I whirled around and saw that Harry's silver white shapeless Patronus burst out of his wand and jetted straight toward three dementors on the field. Then, Harry's hands closed around the Snitch, which cued Madam Hooch's whistle.

George flew over to me and positioned his broom beside mine to lean over and press a kiss on my cheek.

"We won," he said, a wide smile on his face. "And your brother just shot down Malfoy."

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

He pointed down to the dementors, and I saw Malfoy and his goons climb out from large black robes.

"Those rats!" I hissed.

"Snakes," George corrected me. "But sure."

I smirked and flew down to where Harry was, being kissed by Angelina and Katie on the cheek and squeezed to death by Wood.

"WE WON!" Batavia squealed, running onto the field and hugging me, then letting go to lock her lips onto Wood's.

Ron and Hermione ran down to meet us. Ron immediately went to congratulate Harry, but Hermione came to me first and threw her arms around me.

"He made a Patronus!" She cried. "He almost made a corporeal one!"

"I know!" I said happily.

"Oi!" George said, patting Hermione's shoulder. "Did you see it's Malfoy?"

"Malfoy?" Hermione asked in disbelief, turning to see Draco Malfoy being yelled at by McGonagall.

"Unbelievable!" She cried. "Oh, he got what he deserved!"

Then she trotted away to go talk to Harry.

"Party in the Gryffindor Common Room!" Fred bellowed over the cheering Gryffindors. "Right now!"

"Want a piggy back ride?" George asked.

"What?" I asked. "Oh— I've never gotten one of those."

"There's a first time for everything!" George said excitedly. I shrugged and leapt to his back. He tucked his arms under my knees as I wrapped mine around his neck.

"You're lighter than I expected," George said.

"Hey!"

"All I'm saying is you need to eat more, you're underweight! You weigh less than Ginny and she's smaller than you!"

"I'll eat a lot right now," I said, leaning onto his head and smiling as he walked us all the way to the Common Room.

When we got there, we found only some food from the kitchens had been set up.

"Want to go on a mission?" George asked me.

"Sure," I said.

"Okay," George said, a giddy smile on his face. "Oi, Fred! We're going on a mission!"

Whatever this meant, Fred clearly understood it, because he excused himself from Angelina and came to join us.

Within the next hour, we returned to the Gryffindor Common Room holding several bottles of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and many bags of Honeydukes sweets.

"How did you do that?" Angelina cried happily as Fred kissed her and gave her a Peppermint Toad.

"With a little help from Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," George whispered to Harry as we gave him a bottle of butterbeer.

The party lasted a few hours, and by the end of it I was so exhausted that I slept downstairs in the Common Room.

George stayed with me. He slept on the floor while I slept on the couch.

And I expected I'd be able to sleep because of how tired I was. But at one point, I was shaken awake, and nearly screamed when I saw Sirius staring at me.

"Shit!" I hissed.

"Shh!" He said as George moved slightly.

"He knows," I said, rubbing my eyes. "How the bloody hell did you get in here?"

"Not important right now," Sirius said calmly. "I'm here to kill Pettigrew."

"What?" I asked. "You don't have to do that— Addy ate him."

"I'm not so sure she did," Sirius said. "I was chasing a rat yesterday that looked just like him."

"I'll check if he's in Ron's room then," I said, slowly starting to get up.

"No!" Sirius said. "You can't— I can't have you get caught snooping there. It was a close enough call last time you helped me..."

George gave a light snore.

"I'll go check myself," Sirius said. "Then I'll leave. I have an escape plan ready."

"Sirius no—"

"Stay here, Elizabeth," he said. "It'll be fine. I just wanted to say hello."

I smiled wryly at him and frowned when he headed up to the boys dormitory.

Minutes after there was a loud piercing scream and Sirius then sprinted downstairs and with a quick look at me, bolted out the portrait hole.

I heard yelling coming from Harry's dormitory.

At this, George woke up.

"Whazgoingon," he mumbled.

"Sirius was here," I said quickly. "Pettigrew might not really be dead— I think someone in Harry's dormitory may have seen him!"

George's eyes widened.

Just then, all the boys ran downstairs, and other students began coming to the Common Room too, all sleepy and confused, wondering what was going on.

"What happened?" Percy asked briskly, coming downstairs, pinning his Head Boy badge on his pajamas.

"Perce— Sirius Black!" Ron cried. "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"

The entire Common Room went silent and I shot an uncertain glance at George.

"Nonsense!" Percy said. "You had too much to eat, Ron, you must've had a nightmare—"

"I'm telling you—"

McGonagall then burst in, and crossed her arms at the sight of us.

"I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match but this is getting ridiculous!" She said. "Percy, I expected better of you!"

"I certainly didn't authorize this, Professor!" Percy said. "I was just telling them all to go back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare—"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron bellowed. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"

McGonagall stared at him.

"Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"

"Ask Sir Cadogan!" Ron said, pointing a shaky finger at the portait hole.

Apparently very irritated, McGonagall pushed the portrait hole open.

"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?" She asked.

"Certainly, good lady!" Sir Cadogan replied.

Everyone went quiet.

"You— you did?" McGonagall gasped. "But— but the password!"

"He had 'em!" Sir Cadogan said happily. "Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"

McGonagall turned to us, white as chalk.

"Which person," she asked, her voice shaking with fury, "which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"

When Neville Longbottom slowly raised his hand, I felt my heart drop.


	27. Chapter 27

I feel absolutely horrible that Neville got punished so badly because of what Sirius did. This makes me feel guilty— I let Sirius prance around the Common Room and didn't think to stop him some other way. I was an idiot, and it was costing my Housemates.

"You didn't turn him in, so what?" George said one night as I groaned miserably about it all while doing Charms homework. "He didn't hurt anyone. Besides, Neville REALLY shouldn't have left the list lying around— a Slytherin could've come in and pranked us or-or if Sirius was ACTUALLY evil that'd be a problem."

"But I shouldn't have let him go upstairs!" I hissed. "I should've done something!"

"He didn't hurt anyone," George said. "No harm done."

"That's not what Neville thinks."

"Beth, it's not your fault."

I rubbed my eyes and let out an irritated sigh.

"I'm too overly emotional," I stated when I sat back up and leaned on George's shoulder. "I need to stop bitching about everything and just TAKE it. I've cried more about everything in the past year than I ever have in my whole life."

"It's okay to be emotional sometimes," George said. "But don't take it hard on yourself."

"That's my fatal flaw!" I said, smacking my forehead. "It has to be! Harry's fatal flaw is his saving people complex, yours is trying to be funny in a morbid way—"

"Hey!"

"— and mine is taking EVERYTHING to heart," I said.

George looked skeptically at me.

"Alright," he said. "I'll just pretend you didn't say I only come up with morbid jokes—"

"You don't ALWAYS but sometimes."

George rolled his eyes, smiles, and pecked me on the cheek. "I still like you. Even if you're emotional."

"And I still like you even if you make morbid jokes."

George responded to this by tickling me.

The portrait hole swung open, and Hermione ran in, Harry and Ron behind her.

"They're all together!" George said. "Is Ron talking to Hermione again?"

"I dunno," I said. "What's wrong, Hermione?"

"Buckbeak lost the trial!" She wailed, sitting down beside me and handing me a damp parchment.

"They can't do this!" I cried, reading the parchment and seeing Buckbeak was to be executed here at Hogwarts, on a date to be decided. "They can't. Buckbeak isn't dangerous."

"Malfoy's dad frightened the Committee into it!" Hermione hissed, wiping her eyes. "You know what he's like. They're a bunch of doddery old fools, and they were scared. There'll be appeal, though, there always is... only I can't see any hope... nothing'll have changed."

"Yeah it will," Ron said fiercely, making George cock an eyebrow at him. "You won't have to do all that work with just Beth, Hermione. I'll help too."

"Oh Ron!" Hermione cried.

George smirked when Hermione flung her arms around Ron and began to sob uncontrollably. Ron looked afraid, and awkwardly patted her back as she began to pull away.

"Ron, I'm really, really sorry about Scabbers," she sniffed.

"Oh— well— he was old," Ron said. "And a bit useless. You never know— Mum and Dad might get me an owl now."

George smiled and shook his head.

"Those two will end up married, you'll see," he said, making me shrug and nod. He could be right.

_____

Because of the strict safety measures Hogwarts put in place after Sirius scared the living daylights out of Ron, we were unable to visit Hagrid until our next Care of Magical Creatures lessons. Hermione, Ron, and Harry had spoken to him earlier in the day, and when Bixby and I approached him, he was tear stained.

"S'all my fault," he said. "Got all tongue tied. They was all sittin' there in black robes an' I kep' droppin' me notes and forgettin' all them dates Beth and Hermione looked up fer me. An' then Lucius Malfoy stood up an' said his bit, and the Committee jus' did exac'ly what he told 'em."

"There's still the appeal!" Bixby said angrily. "You can't give up yet, Hagrid, Ron is working with us now too— we'll figure something out!"

But Hagrid simply sobbed into a handkerchief and heaved a sigh.

"S'no good, Bixby," Hagrid said. "That Committee's in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. I'm jus' gonna make sure the rest o' Beaky's time is the happiest he's ever had. I owe him that."

After class, a very sad Hagrid went into his cabin. We found Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, hanging out around the entrance of the castle, staring toward Hagrid's Cabin. Behind them, Hermione, Ron, and Harry were approaching fast.

"Gone to comfort the fool, Potter?" Malfoy asked nastily as Bixby and I entered.

"You shove off," Bixby snapped.

"I'm not talking to you, Hoganson," Malfoy hissed back. "It's no surprise YOU'RE defending him— everyone knows the Hogansons love half breeds. I'm expecting perhaps maybe ONE Potter child isn't an idiot."

"You shut the fuck up before I break your jaw," I said, staring up at him menacingly.

"Oh please, you're barely able to look at me without breaking your neck," Malfoy snapped.

"Shove off, Malfoy!" Harry said, appearing at my side, Ron and Hermione behind him.

"No harm done, Potter," Malfoy said scathingly. "I'm just watching the oaf blubber. I've never seen anything quite as pathetic as that—"

Hermione lunged forward and in a furious movement slapped Malfoy across the face so hard that he staggered, Crabbe and Goyle catching him before he fell.

"Don't you DARE call Hagrid pathetic, you foul— you evil—" Hermione spluttered.

She swung her hand back but Ron caught it, making Malfoy stare wide eyed at her, darting away with his goons behind him.

"Hermione Jean Granger," I said, grinning at her, "you are my favorite person."

She smiled, still breathing very heavily.

Bixby was grinning from ear to ear as we walked to the Common Room, very excited to use up our entire free period to retell Hermione's triumph against Malfoy.

"She did WHAT?" Fred asked as I retold the story.

"She slapped him!" I said happily. "I've never seen something so... so amazing!"

"It was hard as hell too!" Bixby said. "It sounded like someone breaking a bone!"

"Malfoy was so scared of her!" I said. "Oh, you should've seen it!"

"I'd have loved to," George said. "Bloody hell, our Hermione off and slapping boys. She'll be a heartbreaker for sure."

"Malfoy's such a git," I said. "He deserved more than a slap. Perhaps two. Or a punch in the face. Or a kick between the legs."

"Well I wouldn't necessarily wish a kick between the legs to anyone— not even my worst enemy," Bixby said, wincing. "I'd feel that pain just watching it."

"You're such a baby," I said.

The bell rang, and Bixby shrugged as he headed straight to his class.

"Shall we go to Potions then, Beth?" George asked with a stupid grin, holding his arm out for me to take.

"What, are you going to lead me there?" I asked. "I know where the Potions classroom is."

"Ah, but I'd like to walk with you," George said.

"If you can catch me," I said playfully, concentrating and becoming invisible before darting out of the Common Room and calmly walking down the hall as George walked nearby, waving his arms around as if he hoped he might find me that way.

I hurried to Potions after that, and maintained a smug look on my face as George walked in awhile after, Fred and Angelina arriving behind him.

"Miss me?" I asked sweetly.

"More than you can imagine," George said with a grin, pecking me on the lips.

"Mr Weasley if you could refrain from public displays of affection in this classroom, it'd be appreciated," Snape's voice hissed from the front. "Everyone take your books out and turn to page one hundred and thirty two."

"Ah," I said, flipping my book open and seeing we were making a variation of Strengthening Solution. "This is such a good day, holy Hufflepuff."

"I can make it better," George said, winking at me.

"Oh?" I inquired.

"Yep," he said, kissing me again, first making sure Snape wasn't paying attention. "You look beautiful."

I blushed, and quickly looked down at my textbook. "You look handsome."

"I'm pretty," George said.

"Pretty handsome," I said.

George clutched his chest and smirked to me, leaning forward and kissing me again.

"Five points from Gryffindor, Mr Weasley!"

________

"So you must catch it only if we're more than fifty points up," Wood said. "Only if we're more than fifty points up, Harry, or we win the match but loose the Cup. You've got that, haven't you? You've got to catch the Snitch only if—"

"I KNOW, OLIVER!" Harry yelled.

I winced slightly. Poor Harry, his ear was constantly being abused by Wood's "tips." More like annoying and consistent requests. It's a wonder Batavia's still sane.

Slytherin was currently leading the tournament by two hundred points. On Saturday we'd be playing them. The burden of winning pretty much fell entirely on Harry, although it was mine, Angelina, and Katie's job to score those fifty points quickly.

There was so much tension between Gryffindor and Slytherin at the moment, it was UNGODLY. I swear I have never seen the Slytherins be more violent— someone needs to accompany Harry to every class because they've tried to attack him! What's worse— that Warrigton bloke nearly killed Wood when he slipped a random ingredient in his Potions cauldron. The only reason he's still alive was because there wasn't enough potion to make a large enough explosion.

The night before the game, Wood ordered us all to bed early, but Harry was so nervous he couldn't sleep, so I sang to him until he dozed off, leaving me to sit in the Common Room in silence trying to fall asleep as well.

"Wood'll have a cow if he knew you were down here."

George was standing at the foot of the stairs to the boys dormitories.

"Harry couldn't sleep," I said, rubbing my eyes. "And I don't want to move him... he looks so comfortable..."

George responded by coming closer and carefully lifting Harry up slightly so I could stand up. Then he gently set him back on the couch.

"Thanks," I said. "I was thinking I might have to become a snake or something to get comfortable."

"What's the most comfortable way to sleep?" George asked.

"I dunno," I said. "I try really hard not to sleep as any type of creature because I know it'll be a pain in the morning when I transform back."

I sat down beside Harry and leaned my head back, begging sleep to overcome me.

George came and sat beside me, moving his hands to massage my shoulders, making me groan.

"Bloody hell that feels amazing," I sighed.

"Mum says massages help you fall asleep," George said, continuing to rub my back. "Dunno if its true but it somewhat helped us when we were kids."

"Your mother is an angel," I said. "I love her."

"She loved you too," George said, smiling. "She's been thrilled to have two daughters since Ginny was born."

"Remember how small she was?" I asked.

"No," George said. "I can't remember that far back... I was what... maybe five?"

"Ah, well I can remember it," I said. "She was so small, and so cute!"

"Who's the cutest Weasley?" George inquired.

"As a baby, maybe Charlie," I said. "Your Mum showed me pictures— he had the chubbiest cheeks! Now, I'd say maybe Ginny.... or you..."

"Just me," George said, moving his hands to massage my neck. "You're the cutest Potter."

"I'm flattered," I said.

"Bloody hell your back is all in knots," George said. "You sleep curled up in a ball, don't you?"

"For the most part," I said.

"You're a cat," George said, making me roll my eyes and laugh.

"Hey," George said, "you— you've never done a person shapeshift, have you?"

"Huh," I said, looking at the ceiling. "No... I haven't. I've only ever done creatures."

"Well you should be able to do people too," George said.

I stood up and faced him, concentrating.

"Woah!"

George was grinning as I appeared before him as the could-be Weasley triplet.

"Hi," I said, smoothing back my— well George's— hair. "I'm Freorgia Weasley."

"You can still be Elizabeth you dummy," George said. "The alphabet goes E, F, G. All in order."

"Well, dummy," I said, "I'm a boy now."

"Elizabeth-o," George said. "Elizo?"

"Is there even a male version of Elizabeth?" I asked.

"Elliot? Ezra?" George offered.

"Oh well," I said, shifting to look like me again. "It was fun being attractive for once."

"Oh shut up," George said. "You're attractive all the time. Hey— how about we sleep now?"

I shrugged. "Alright. Erm... should we carry Harry or leave him here?"

"We can stay here," George said, crossing over to another couch and laying on the floor beside it, grabbing a pillow off an armchair and getting comfortable. "You can sleep on the couch."

"You don't have to sleep on the floor," I said.

"I don't mind," George said, grinning.

I smiled back at him and climbed onto the couch, letting my head rest against the pillow. I reached my hand down and George caught it, squeezing it.

"We're going to win that cup tomorrow. I can feel it," he said.

________

"Captains, shake hands!"

I watched as Flint aggressively shook Wood's hand, clearly ready to play another dirty game.

"Mount your brooms. Three... two... one..."

The whistle blew and I kicked off powerfully, slapping the Quaffle back and right into Angelina's arms.

"And it's Gryffindor in possession!" Lee announced. "Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, heading straight for the Slytherin goal posts, looking good, Angelina! Argh no— Quaffle intercepted by Warrington, Warrington of Slytherin tearing up the field— WHAM! Nice Bludger work there by George Weasley, Warrington drops the Quaffle, it's caught by Elizabeth Potter— Gryffindor back in possession, come on Beth... nice swerve around Montague— duck, Beth, that's a Bludger!"

I dove under the Bludger and threw be Quaffle right into center hoop.

"SHE SCORES! TEN ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

I punched the air in delight and flew past George, who blew me a kiss.

In the moment I looked at him, Marcus Flint slammed into me, making me nearly fall off my broom.

"Sorry!" Flint called loudly as the Gryffindors booed. "Sorry, didn't see her."

Immediately after, George chucked his bat at the back of Flint's head, making Flint's nose smash against his broom handle and begin to bleed.

"That will do!" Madam Hooch snapped, flying between them. "Penalty shot to Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their Chaser! Penalty shot to Slytherin for deliberate damage to their Chaser!"

George swore loudly. Moments later, I took the penalty and scored.

"YES!" Lee roared. "SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

Flint took the Slytherin penalty. Wood saved it easily.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HE'S SAVED IT!"

Very pleased with the result, I waved to Harry, who was watching above, flying laps around the pitch.

"Gryffindor in possession, no, Slytherin in possession— no! Gryffindor back in possession, and it's Katie Bell, Katie Bell for Gryffindor with the Quaffle, she's streaking up the field— THAT WAS DELIBERATE!"

Stupid Montague had dove in front of Katie and grabbed her head, which made her drop the Quaffle and nearly fly off her broom.

Madam Hooch called for another penalty, which Katie completed with ease.

"THIRTY ZERO!" Lee said triumphantly. "TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY CHEATING—"

"Jordan, if you can't commentate in an unbiased way—"

"I'm telling it like it is, Professor!"

Harry then was attacked by the Slytherin Beaters, making me laugh wildly when he swerved between them and made them collide with each other.

Unfortunately in that moment, Flint scored, which made Wood glare at us all furiously.

I caught the Quaffle and began heading down the pitch, attempting to make it forty-ten. I was halfway down the pitch when a Beater bat slammed into my side, making me fall off my broom. I wildly grabbed for the handle, trying to stay on.

"Thought she was the Bludger!" Derrick, the Slytherin Beater said nastily as I summoned the broom to be under me. George then flew over and elbowed Derrick hard in the face. Flint missed HIS penalty but I took ours and made the score forty ten.

Then Katie scored, making it fifty ten. It was time for Harry to catch the Snitch.

It seemed Fred and George were trying to protect all the Chasers now after both attacks on me and the one on Katie. In their absence, Derrick and Bole both aimed Bludgers at Wood's stomach, making him roll over in the air on his broom, completely winded. In the stands, I'd heard Batavia scream.

"YOU DO NOT ATTACK THE KEEPER UNLESS THE QUAFFLE IS WITHIN THE SCORING AREA!" Madam Hooch roared. "Gryffindor penalty!"

Angelina took it, making the score sixty ten. Then Katie had scored again— seventy ten.

I looked up as I was flying toward the goalposts and saw Malfoy grab the end of Harry's Firebolt. I angrily threw the Quaffle into the hoop and flew up. By then it was too late, Malfoy had let go of the broom and it seemed the Snitch had disappeared.

"YOU CHEATING SCUM!" Lee howled. "YOU FILTHY CHEATING B—"

Professor McGonagall hadn't even bothered to tell him to be quiet. In fact, I think she said a curse word herself.

The penalty that came from that was taken by me, anger boiling in my veins.

"Slytherin in possession," Lee said, "Slytherin heading for the goal— ah.. Montague scores... ninety twenty to Gryffindor..."

I caught the Quaffle immediately afterward, and sped down the pitch. All around me the Slytherin team flew ahead, as if they intended to block me from reaching the goalposts.

I considered turning invisible, but I didn't know if that'd be against the rules or not.

Fortunately, I didn't need to come up with a solution, because Harry sped through the line of Slytherins, his head bent low, making them scatter, and leaving me to bring the score to a hundred- twenty.

As I began to tail after Montague, who had the Quaffle in hand, I heard a loud "YES!"

I whirled around and saw Harry holding the Snitch in his hand, high in the air.

I cheered loudly and flew down to where all of Gryffindor House was pouring onto the field. Fred was yelling at the top of his lungs, Angelina and Katie were chanting "we've won the cup!" And Batavia was passionately snogging Wood, who I've never seen look so happy.

From behind, someone picked me up and spun me around, making me wail in pain.

"Beth!" George cried, setting me down immediately.

"That side is probably bruised," I squeaked, recalling the hit I'd received from Derrick's bat.

"Fuck Slytherin," George said. Then he cupped my face in his hands, kissing me.

I pulled away and saw he was smiling wider than I'd ever seen him smile. "We won."

"Yes we did," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him again.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and pulled away, seeing Harry with his arms open.

"Come here you incredible, INCREDIBLE brother of mine!" I said happily, hugging him. "You were amazing!"

"Not as amazing as you!" Harry said. "You took a hit to the side and still put in more goals that any of the other Chasers!"

I grinned and ruffled his hair.

Tonight, we'd be celebrating like there was no tomorrow.

________

I wish the happiness could have lasted. At least while longer.

One day, I was in the entrance hall with George coming out of lunch when Hermione came to me, her eyes swimming with tears.

"Buckbeak lost," she said, her voice shaking. "He's going to be executed at sunset."

"No!" I cried. "Oh my— we have to go, we can't let Hagrid sit there on his own waiting for the executioner!"

"Sunset though," Hermione whispered. "Harry can't leave, and neither can you."

"Harry can use his cloak and I'll turn invisible. No big deal," I said.

Later that night, I decided to accompany the trio to Hagrid's hut. George wanted to come, but I insisted he stay behind to actually finish the Transfiguration essay due the next day.

"Yeh shouldn've come!" Hagrid said as we walked in.

"We wanted to," I said, rubbing his shoulder. "Where's Buckbeak?"

"Outside," Hagrid said. "He's tethered in me pumpkin patch. Thought he outta see the trees an' smell fresh air before... before..."

His hand trembled and he dropped a milk jug on the floor. It shattered, and I summoned the shards into my hand to throw away.

"Dumbledore's gonna come down while it— while it happens," Hagrid said sadly. "Wrote me this mornin'. Said he wants ter be with me. Great man, Dumbledore..."

"We'll be here too," Hermione said. Hagrid shook his head.

"Yeh're ter go back up ter the castle. I told yeh, I don't want yeh watchin'. An' yeh shouldn' be down here anyway. If Fudge an' Dumbledore catch yeh out without permission, Harry and Beth, yeh'll be in big trouble."

There was a squeaking sound at that moment, and a very familiar rat came out from under the table.

"Scabbers!" Ron said, making my heart skip a beat and my stomach drop as he picked it up.

"They're coming!" Harry said suddenly.

I looked out the window and saw an approaching group.

"Yeh gotta go," Hagrid said, trembling. "They mustn' find yeh here. Go now..."

We darted to the back door. The trio quickly became hidden under the Cloak while I walked beside them, invisible. When we reached the top of the hill near the entrance, we all huddled under the cloak and stared in horror as the executioner exited the hut.

"Scabbers!" Ron gasped suddenly. The rat screeched wildly, making me want to turn into a panther and eat it.

There was a thud.

"They did it!" Hermione gasped, bursting into tears and leaning onto my shoulder.


	28. Chapter 28

Hermione sobbed against my shoulder.

I patted her gently on the back, unsure what to do. Do I say 'sorry for your loss?' That might not even make sense.

It was annoying, really. Hermione, our friends, and I did not work this damn hard on research and planning for the trial for it to have ended up like this. It was bullshit.

How could I even console Hermione at this point? She saw a hippogriff die, and I don't know about you, but it's not something you should see at any age.

As someone who has experienced (and witnessed) death before, I wasn't as shaken up as the three people beside me. Ron was paler than usual. Hermione looked anxious, afraid, depressed, and angry all at once, and Harry looked utterly emotionless, although I could tell he was in disbelief that it had even happened. I felt horrible, of course, but I didn't feel sad or shocked, just furious. I'm just glad Bixby wasn't here, he might've cried so hard he'd compromise our position.

"Hagrid," Harry mumbled.

"Come again?" I said, looking up from Hermione's blotchy face.

"Hagrid!" Harry said, beginning to head down to the hut.

"We can't," Ron said, reaching out and grabbing his arm to hold him back. "He'll be in worse trouble if they know we've been to see him..."

Hermione let out a small wheeze.

"How— could— they?" She choked. "How could they?"

"We'll get Lucius Malfoy for this," I hissed. "We will."

"Come on you two," Ron said, pushing Harry towards the castle and awkwardly patting Hermione's shoulder. "It's freezing out here."

He glanced at me and winced, and I nodded. We should probably go inside and try and somehow forget this incident.

Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak out and threw it over us again, as tight as it would go to try and conserve even some warmth. My feet stuck out but at this rate it didn't matter. I'd have much rather just turned invisible, but I knew right now we all needed to head up to the Common Room together, able to see each other. That's one thing I hate about turning several people and myself invisible. You can't see each other.

"Scabbers, keep still," Ron hissed.

He clapped his hand over his chest pocket. Inside it, the rat was wriggling like crazy. A voice inside my head was screaming at for me to turn into a bird and just peck the rat to death.

"What's the matter with you?" Ron snapped. "You stupid rat! Stay still— OUCH! He bit me!"

"Ron, be quiet!" Hermione cried urgently. "Fudge'll be out here in a minute—"

"He— won't— stay— put—"

Scabbers gave a sort of terrified screech and tried fighting against Ron's grip.

"What the hell is the matter with him?" Harry asked.

I looked over to where Scabbers was staring and saw Addy was coming towards us, her eyes wide and yellow.

"Addy!" Hermione cried. "No, go away!"

Addy continued her pace, staring at Scabbers and licking her lips ever so slightly.

"Come here, Addy!" I said, glaring daggers at the rat, holding my arms out.

"Beth, no!" Ron snarled.

Addy leapt into my arms, and at that same moment Scabbers flung himself out of Ron's chest pocket. Addy used my arms as a launchpad to chase after him. By this time, Ron had thrown the Invisibility Cloak off him and sprinted after them.

"Ron!" Hermione squeaked.

I darted after Ron, not because I cared what happened to Scabbers (aka Peter Pettigrew, I was certain) but because Ron was running straight to the Whomping Willow.

"Ron!" I screamed. "Turn back! Turn back!"

He threw himself onto Addy and made her screech in pain. He clasped his hands around Scabbers and shoved him back into his pocket.

"Ron! Beth!" Hermione panted, having just caught up to us. "Come back under the cloak, Dumbledore and the Minister will be coming out in a minute—"

Suddenly Hermione let out a soft scream, and pointed toward the bushes near the Whomping Willow.

An enormous dog I knew to be Sirius was coming towards us. I grinned and beckoned it forward.

"BETH WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Harry roared.

"It's fine!" I said. "You'll see—"

Suddenly, Sirius leapt forward and fastened his jaws on Ron's outstretched arm, making him howl in pain.

"Hey— wait!" I cried, rushing toward them and trying desperately to pry Sirius' mouth off Ron's arm. "Leave him alone!"

Sirius looked at me, seemingly nodding toward the Whomping Willow. What was that supposed to mean?

There was a loud crash, and I looked up just in time to duck before a huge branch swung out and slapped Hermione and Harry away.

Sirius began to drag Ron all the way toward the Whomping Willow, fighting against his slaps and kicks. I saw the familiar figure of Addy sprinting to the tree and pressing on a small knob that ceased its movement. Ron still had a hand over his chest pocket, holding a screeching Scabbers within. Just as Sirius dragged Ron down a tunnel under the Whomping Willow, I began to run forward, trying to make it to the tunnel before the branches began to move again.

"Sirius!" I screamed. "What are you—"

I felt a huge object slam into my chest, and knew immediately a branch had caught me. I felt my body go airborne and then landed painfully in a patch of rocks, where I let out a loud gasp and held my abdomen, which was probably heavily bruised now. I moved slightly to the side and sucked in air painfully. I must have a broken rib. Too bad I wasn't immune to pain, I think I'd have preferred that to being immortal.

"Ron!" I heard Harry yell as Hermione ran to me.

"Beth!" She screamed. "Oh my god—"

"What?" I hissed, looking down.

Oh.

"Ouch," I mumbled.

A piece of my rib had exited my skin and was sticking out just by my liver.

"Sweet Salazar!" Harry yelled as he limped over, covering his mouth when he saw my bone.

"Do ANY of you know how I can bandage this?" I hissed, reaching my hand out to summon some bandages and a few healing ointments.

"Not exactly— but I can try!" Hermione said. "I've seen them do it in movies before...."

Then she shook her head vigorously. "We have to get help! Beth you can't move right now and Ron—"

"Just bandage me, Hermione," I insisted. "We need to follow them—"

"That dog," Harry said suddenly. "Why the hell did you call it over, Beth?"

Now it seemed like he no longer pitied me for having half my rib out of my side.

"That dog—" I gasped, wincing as I struggled to sit up. "That dog— is Sirius— Sirius Black..."

"What?" Hermione shrieked. "Then why—"

"He's not—" I groaned and held my side, "he's not going to hurt Ron— he wants the rat.... the rat.... Pettigrew, remember?"

"I'd almost forgotten about that!" Hermione cried as she pulled hard on my arms to help me up. Harry wasn't even looking at me anymore, and was just shaking his head.

"So it could be true?" Hermione asked timidly. "Scabbers could be Pettigrew and the dog— well, Sirius Black— just wants the rat?"

"It IS true," I said biting my lip. "Harry, I swear Ron will be fine, Sirius didn't kill our parents, but the rat DID—"

"NO!" Harry roared, turning back around, his fists balled up. "You— you're STILL saying this? I thought maybe you realized how STUPID you sounded when you even suggested— that a RAT, a bloody RAT is the reason our parents died— the whole Ministry knows it was Sirius Black!"

"No they don't!" I snapped, leaning into Hermione as she wrapped the bandages around my side, looking pale. "The Ministry doesn't know shit, they never do! Harry, you couldn't possibly remember, but Sirius was incredible, he could never have done this— he was Dad's best friend!"

"I'll kill him," Harry snarled. "He killed our parents— I'll kill him. We have to go down there."

"But how?" Hermione whispered as Harry staggered toward the Whomping Willow.

"Did you notice that Addy went and pressed on a little knot by the base of the tree earlier to stop the branches from moving?" I asked Hermione, sucking in air as she finished wrapping the bandages around my side.

"Well no," she said. "I saw Addy but then I got hit by the branches."

"Well I can turn into something tiny and press the knot," I said. "Then we can go down the passage."

"No!" Hermione cried, her eyes glistening with tears. "No Beth you're hurt enough already, you could get hurt transforming right now."

"Just because I have a broken rib now doesn't necessarily mean I'll have a broken rib as an animal," I reassured her.

Harry had been listening, but didn't bother supporting or arguing against my plan, so I shrugged and concentrated on becoming a small rabbit.

It hurt. A lot. But once I actually became a rabbit I felt no pain. I hopped as fast as I could to the knot and patted it with my foot.

The instant the branches ceased movement, Hermione and Harry sprinted forward. Harry didn't even look at bunny me as he slipped into the tunnel. Hermione slithered in after him, then I hopped into it, landing as a human.

This was probably not a good idea.

I let out a high pitched wail. The transformation back had been more painful than the transformation into a rabbit, and landing on my bottom had shaken my entire body and made my bandages press tightly against my side. I felt my rib move ever so slightly.

"Beth!" Hermione cried, extending her hand to help me up. Harry was ignoring me entirely at this point, and had began to walk onward.

Once I'd stood up, I followed Hermione and Harry down a very long and dark tunnel.

"Where does this lead to?" Hermione whispered.

"The Shrieking Shack," I murmured.

"How do you know?" Harry demanded.

"Fred and George told me," I said. "This is one of the passageways they never used because it was dangerous on both ends."

Hermione pursed her lips and began to shiver slightly.

It seemed like forever but eventually we reached a rather large room with dust all over it, and broken furniture adorning it.

"Wow," Hermione whispered, examining a chair without a leg. "Ghosts don't do that."

"It's too far fetched that this is haunted by ghosts and whatnot," I said quietly.

There was a creak in the floorboards upstairs.

"This way," Harry said, beckoning us toward an old looking staircase.

We walked up cautiously, and ended up in a room with a large four poster bed. On it was Addy, purring. On the floor beside the bed was Ron, clutching his chest pocket, and groaning. His leg was bent at an odd angle, probably broken.

"Ron!" Hermione cried, rushing forward. I gasped and sat on the bed.

"The dog—" Ron choked. "Harry—"

"Be quiet," Harry said. "We'll talk later, let's get you help—"

"No, Harry!" Ron gasped. "The dog— He's an Animagus— it's a trap—"

"I know," I said, making everyone look at me. "Please calm down, it's just Sirius—"

"Wait he's WHO?" Ron spluttered.

"She's going on about that thing at Christmas!" Harry snarled sharply.

"The thing that made them stop talking to each other," Hermione said cautiously. "Oh Harry, listen to her— she could be right!"

"I am right," I said, coughing and feeling a sharper pain in my side.

"No that's impossible!" Ron gasped. "But you— well—"

"Whose side are you on?" Harry asked nastily.

"Harry!" Hermione snapped.

"I'm just asking—"

"I'm telling the truth!" I cried, which made my head spin. "The dog is not going to hurt us—"

"Easy for you to say," Ron said, pointing at his leg.

"My rib is sticking out of my body, you're fine," I said. "Trust me, it's fine— he won't hurt us. It's just Sirius... wherever he is."

"Not the introduction I hoped for," Sirius' voice responded from the back of the room.

I smiled slightly as he stepped out from behind the door.

"Expelliarmus!" He cried.

Hermione and Harry's wands flew out of their hands.

"What was that for?" I inquired.

"Can't risk it," Sirius said. "You need to give me time to explain myself."

Harry was breathing heavily.

"Can someone PLEASE tell me what's going on?" Hermione cried desperately.

"Sirius," I said, eyeing him sternly, "you need to explain everything that happened, but be specific and don't over exaggerate. Harry already doesn't believe me."

At this, Harry growled. "He killed our Mum and Dad!"

Then suddenly, he launched himself at Sirius, who let Harry knock him down and take his wand.

"Going to kill me, Harry?" Sirius whispered, not looking afraid.

"You killed my parents," Harry snarled.

"Harry, calm down!" I cried.

"Why should I?" Harry roared, turning back to me. "You— you've been helping him! You got him out of the castle when he came in, didn't you?"

I gaped at him, unable to deny it.

"You did!" Harry yelled. "I can't believe it! He— he killed our parents and you were going to let him hurt others— hurt ME—"

"He's not after you or me!" I wailed. "He wants the rat! You— you HAVE to believe me!"

"Well I don't!" Harry snarled. "How can I believe you? You betrayed us— what about George?"

"GEORGE believes me!" I snapped. "And I wish you would too— I'm telling the truth!"

I thrust my hand out and summoned a bottle of Veritaserum.

"Sirius, drink it," I demanded. "It's Veritaserum. Harry, you HAVE to hear him out."

Harry breathed heavily and stepped back, letting Sirius get up and grab the bottle from me.

He nodded to Harry and took a huge swig of the bottle, then tossed it back to me, so I could send it back to wherever it came from.

"Now Harry—"

"Listen!" Hermione cried.

Footsteps were coming up the stairs.

The door of the room burst open, and my godfather stepped in, his wand raised.

"Where is he, Sirius?" He asked.

"In Ron's chest pocket," Sirius said immediately. My godfather was taken aback. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"He's under the influence of Veritaserum," I said, which made him nod.

"Beth," my godfather said. "What are you doing here?"

"We'll explain later," I said. "What are YOU doing here?"

"You were right," my godfather said. "I found out you were. So I came. The question is how you knew—"

"I met him," I mumbled. "The day I learned to make the wolfsbane potion. That's how I knew for certain."

"Beth," my godfather said sternly, "you mean to tell me—"

"—I helped him escape the castle," I confirmed.

My godfather pursed his lips.

"Wolfsbane potion?" Ron asked quizzically.

"He's a werewolf," Hermione said simply, which made my godfather stare at her curiously.

"She figured it out when Snape subbed for us," I said.

"You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione," my godfather said proudly.

"Well not that clever," Hermione said sheepishly. "Beth made the wolfsbane potion and that's very difficult."

"What are you going on about?" Harry sneered. "You're missing the point— Uncle Remus— you helped Sirius too!"

"Harry," my godfather said gently, "Beth was right. I didn't believe it for certain, though I did have my suspicions. But I now know it's true, because I saw Pettigrew's name on the Marauder's Map. It never lies, and I know because I helped write it."

"You?" Harry gasped. "You wrote...."

"But that's not important at the moment," my godfather cut in. "The bottom line is Beth figured it all out. She's known that rat was Pettigrew for awhile now."

"Peter Pettigrew's Dead!" Harry yelled. "That— HE—" he pointed at Sirius "HE killed him twelve years ago!"

"I meant to," Sirius said sourly, baring yellow teeth. "But little Peter got the better of me... not this time though!"

He darted forward to Ron, which startled me so much that I tripped backwards and slammed against the wall, making me let out a cry of pain.

"Sirius, NO!" My godfather yelled, pulling Sirius back. "WAIT! You can't just do it like that— we need to help them understand—"

"Beth explained it enough times from what I hear!" Sirius hissed. "We can explain it all again in a way they'll believe us once we kill Pettigrew—"

He lunged forward but couldn't break out of my godfather's grip.

"They've— got— a— right— to— fully— understand— everything!" My godfather panted. "Ron had him as a pet, and somehow Beth figured it all out, and Harry is confused— he needs the truth!"

"Have him ask him questions then!" I groaned, looking down and seeing blood had soaked through my bandages. "He's under Veritaserum for a reason..."

"Fine," Sirius hissed, glaring at Scabbers. "But let's make it quick, I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for."

"Talking like that won't help them believe us," I hissed.

"I won't believe you anyway!" Harry snarled to me. "You betrayed me!"

"Hear us the BLOODY HELL out, Harry!" I moaned, my legs growing shaky.

"WHY SHOULD I?" Harry roared. "My own sister betrayed me! A whole street of witnesses saw HIM kill Pettigrew— What are you advocating for? You— you're horrible— I can't believe—"

"They don't know what they saw!" Sirius hissed.

"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," my godfather cut in. "I believed it myself for a bit... but I always had a feeling it hadn't occurred that way. I knew Peter was the Secret Keeper when that whole ordeal began. And when I saw the Marauder's Map I knew Peter was in fact alive, and he's Scabbers."

"What I don't understand," Hermione said timidly, making everyone look at her, "is how no one knows Peter Pettigrew is an Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework— the Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals— there's a register showing what animal they become and what markings they have. Professor McGonagall is in the register— even Beth is because she can become any animal.. but they're two people on a list of eight people that have been Animagi this century— Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list."

"Right again, Hermione," My godfather said, "but the Ministry never knew that there used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts."

"Oh Remus they don't need to know that!" Sirius said in annoyance. "I've waited twelve years for this, and I'm not going to wait much longer."

The door suddenly creaked itself open, then shut itself abruptly, making us all jump slightly.

"This place is haunted!" Ron hissed.

"No it isn't," my godfather said. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted. The screams and howls the villagers used to hear was me."

"Wait, what?" Hermione gasped.

"When I was a small boy, I was bitten," my godfather explained. "My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure. The potion that Professor Snape has been making for me— the one he taught Beth to make— that's a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, keeps me in my mind when I transform. I'm able to curl up in my office, a harmless werewolf, to wait for the moon to wane again.

"Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered though, I was a fully fledged monster every month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents wouldn't want their children exposed to me. It was a wonder, come to think of it, that they even let me raise Beth...

"Besides the point. Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't have come to school. The Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is, it was planted because I came to Hogwarts. This house— the tunnel that leads to it— they were built for my use. Once a month I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous.

"My transforming in those days were— were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a werewolf— just as it used to be painful for Beth to shapeshift. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched at myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and screaming and bought they were hearing particularly violent spirits. Dumbledore encourages the rumor... even now, when the house has been silent for years, the villagers don't dare approach it.

"But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever I had friends— three great friends. Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and of course, your father, Harry and Beth, James Potter.

"Now my three friends could hardly fail to notice I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and I had to go home to see her... I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like Hermione, figured out the truth.

"And they didn't desert me. Instead they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi."

"Even my dad?" Harry asked, looking a lot calmer and believing.

"Yes indeed," my godfather said. "It took them the best part of three years to figure out how to do it. Your father and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were, because the Animagi transformation can go horribly wrong— one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on those attempting to do it. Peter needed all the help he could get from James and Sirius. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different animal at will."

"But," Hermione interrupted "how did that help you?"

"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals," my godfather said. "A werewolf is only dangerous to people. They sneaked out of the castle every month under James' Invisibility Cloak. They transformed... Peter, as the smallest, could slip beneath the Willow's attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. They would then slip down the tunnel and join me. Under the influence, I became less dangerous. My body was still wolfish, but my mind seemed to become less so when I was with them."

"Hurry up, Remus," Sirius said in an irritated voice, staring at Scabbers and licking his lips.

"I'm getting there, Sirius, I'm getting there," my godfather sighed. "Well... highly exciting possibilities were open to us now that we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and the village by night. Sirius and James transformed into such large animals, they were able to keep a werewolf in check.

I doubt whether any Hogwarts students ever found out more about the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade than we did. And that's how we came to write the Marauder's Map, and sign it with our nicknames. I, a werewolf, was Moony. Sirius, a dog, was Padfoot. Peter, a rat, Wormtail. James, a stag, was Prongs."

"That was still really dangerous," Hermione said softly. "Running around the dark with a werewolf... what if you'd given the others and the slip and bitten somebody?"

"A thought that still haunts me," my godfather sighed. "There were very near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless— carried away with our own cleverness.

"I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust of course.. he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other Headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he'd set down for my own and others' safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students to becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month's adventure. And I haven't changed..."

He sighed loudly.

"What about Beth?" Harry asked suddenly. "What— How did that—"

"Beth was easy to raise, even given the circumstances," my godfather said. "She was independent. She understood my condition since a very small age and didn't mind it. Two days before the full moon she'd go to the Weasleys and stay there until two days after the full moon. That is how she grew to be so close to them, and why she has been best friends with Fred and George since such a young age."

Harry looked at me for an instant, then turned away.

"Remus!" Sirius growled. "Hurry up!"

"Almost dome," my godfather assured him. "Anyway... All this year I've been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I'd betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me... and Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, he let me raise my goddaughter, he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using Dark Arts learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it... of course how he exited was another matter—" he stared at me and I winced "—so in a ways, Snape's been right about me all along."

"Snape?" Sirius hissed. "What's he got to with it?"

"He's here, Sirius," my godfather said. "He's teaching here as well... Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. He had been telling Dumbledore all year that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons, you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me—"

Sirius snorted.

"It served him right," Sirius sneered. "Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to... hoping to get us expelled..."

"Severus was very interested in where I went every month," my godfather continued, ignoring Sirius. "We were in the same year and didn't like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James' talent on the Quidditch field... anyway Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me toward the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be amusing to tell him all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a large stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it— if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf— but your father heard what Sirius did and went and pulled Snape back, at great risk to his life. Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was..."

"So that's why Snape doesn't like you," Harry deduced. "Because he thought you were in on the joke?"

"That's right."

I whipped around painfully to see that Professor Snape was slowly pulling off the Invisibility Cloak his wand pointed at my godfather.


	29. Chapter 29

Sirius stood up so quickly my head spun. Snape was staring at us so angrily I was afraid he might murder us all on the spot.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," he said coldly, tossing the Invisibility Cloak to Harry. He moved so he had his back to no one, and continued to point his wand directly at my godfather's chest. "Very useful, Mr Potter, I thank you. Now... I believe you're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?"

"You saw us leaving," I said.

"No, although if I had I'd have been here much sooner," Snape said. "No... in fact... I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did... lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."

"Severus—" My godfather began.

"I've told the Headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle," Snape sneered, "and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout—"

"Severus, you're making a mistake," my godfather said, looking afraid. "You haven't heard everything— I can explain— Sirius is not here to kill Beth or Harry—"

"Two more for Azkaban tonight," Snape said, his eyes gleaming with a sadistic joy. "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this... He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin... a tame werewolf—"

"You fool," my godfather said quietly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"

"Silence, Lupin," Snape said coldly. "As a professor at this school it is my duty nevertheless to turn in a criminal. I have to here before me— him, a murderer, and you, his accomplice. You helped him in and out of this castle and endangered many students, including your own goddaughter... and here everyone thought you were a caring person—"

"Shut up!" I snapped, feeling nauseous from yelling so loud.

"Excuse me?" Snape snarled, turning his head abruptly to me.

"I helped Sirius into the castle!" I cried. "I did! That day you taught me to make the wolfsbane potion— he found me in your classroom! I didn't return to the feast because I brought him to the mountains! Then the day he was in Gryffindor Common Room I saw him and didn't tell anyone anything!"

"Idiot girl!" Snape said, glaring at me. "Do you have any idea what you could've done?"

"I know what could of happened, but NOTHING happened," I said through gritted teeth. "Sirius is innocent, and I believed that."

"Based on what?" Snape sneered. "Your godfather's testimony?"

"My memories," I said snappishly. "I can remember him. My godfather told me not to talk to Sirius and I did because I remembered him and I knew he couldn't have betrayed my parents. Don't you dare blame him for this, it's my fault, and my fault only."

"I must admit, I didn't expect this from you, Miss Potter," Snape said, making me growl internally. "I'm quite disappointed... but must admit I'm not surprised. You're more like your arrogant father than I thought—"

"Severus—" My godfather started.

Snape slashed his wand through the air and caused snakelike cords to burst out of his wand and wrap around my godfather. He fell to the floor, unable to move, which caused Sirius to lunge at Snape with a rageful roar, but the latter simply pointed his wand between his eyes and sneered.

"Give me a reason," Snape said in a dangerous voice. "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."

Sirius was breathing heavily, glaring at Snape so angrily that if looks could kill he'd be back in Azkaban for a murder three times over.

"Professor Snape," Hermione squeaked slowly. "It—it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?"

"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," Snape spat. "You, both Potters, and Weasley are out of bounds in the company of a werewolf and a convicted murderer. For once in your life, hold your tongue."

"But if— if there was a mistake—"

"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape yelled. "DON'T TALL ABOUT WHAT YOU DON't UNDERSTAND!"

Hermione closed her mouth immediately, and Sirius and I stared angrily at Snape.

"Vengeance is very sweet," Snape whispered to Sirius. "How I hoped I would be the one to catch you..."

"The joke's on you again, Severus," Sirius snarled. "As long as Ron brings his rat up to the castle, I'll come quietly—"

"Up to the castle?" Snape cut in. "I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Black. Pleased enough to give you a little kiss, I daresay..."

"Hear us out!" I shrieked. "We're not lying— Sirius is under Veritaserum!"

"Veritaserum, no doubt, that must have been summoned by you from my storage cupboard!" Snape snarled. "Miss Potter you are on thin ice already." He looked around the room and made a nasty face. "Come on, all of you. I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors will have a kiss for him too—"

Harry took a bold step forward and blocked the door.

"Get out of the way, Potter!" Snape spat. "You're in enough trouble already. If I hadn't been here to save your skin—"

"My Uncle Remus could have killed me about a hundred times this year if he really was evil," Harry said. "He could have killed Beth when she was a baby. We've been alone with him several times, having Defense lessons against the dementors. If he was helping Sirius, he would've finished us off there."

"Don't ask me to fathom the way a werewolf's mind works," Snape hissed. "Get out of the way, Potter."

"YOU'RE PATHETIC!" Harry roared. "JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN—"

"SILENCE!" Snape cried furiously. "I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT! You Potters are the spitting image of your father! You should be thanking me on a bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black! Now get out of the way you idiot boy, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!"

The next thing happened so fast. I summoned Snape's wand straight into my hands and freed my godfather. Hermione, Harry, and Ron all shot an Expelliarmus Charm a split second after Snape's wand appeared in my hands.

Snape was thrown powerfully off his feet and against the wall. He slid down it to the floor, where he lay in a crumpled heap, blood oozing out from under his hair. He'd been knocked out cold.

"Oh fuck," I squeaked, feeling another wave of nausea from using my powers. "You attacked a teacher!"

"I know!" Hermione cried in a high pitched voice.

"You shouldn't have done that," Sirius said, looking wide eyed at all of us. "You should have left him to me."

In response I shrugged and handed him Snape's wand.

"We're going to be in so much trouble," Hermione whimpered.

My godfather chuckled slightly, completely freeing himself from the ropes. He stood up and shook them off himself, grinning to us.

"I'll excuse you cursing this time, Beth," my godfather said. "Thank you...all."

"I'm still not saying I believe you," Harry mumbled. "It's a lot to take in."

"It makes sense," Hermione said timidly. "But I want to see proof of it."

"Very well," my godfather said. "Ron, give me Peter, please, now."

Ron clutched Scabbers tightly to his chest. "Come off it! Are you trying to say Sirius broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean... okay say Pettigrew could turn into a rat— there are millions of rats— how's he supposed to know which one he's after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"

"Yeah, how did you know, Sirius?" I asked. "I mean I figured because of Scabber's age and his missing toe—"

"That's exactly why," Sirius said, taking out a crumpled piece of paper from his robes. It was a photograph of the Weasleys when they'd gone to Egypt— the picture that'd been on the Daily Prophet. On Ron's shoulder was Scabbers.

"How did you even get this?" My godfather asked in astonishment.

"Fudge," Sirius said flatly. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page on this boy's shoulder... I knew him at once... how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts, to where Harry was..."

"He IS missing a toe," my godfather murmured, looking at me then the picture. "Of course... so simple... so brilliant... he cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed," Sirius said. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself— and sped down into the sewer with the other rats."

"Didn't you ever hear, Ron?" My godfather asked. "The biggest bit of Peer they found was his finger."

"Wait a minute," Hermione said, looking puzzled. "But— I'm confused. When Beth transformed into a rabbit her broken rib didn't transfer over. Wouldn't Peter's injuries not pass over then?"

"They would because he, unlike Beth, is a full Animagus," my godfather said. "An Animagus becomes a part of the wizard. But Beth can transform as simply or as complex as she wants to, so her injuries remain in her human form. However, if she were to be injured as someone who isn't her, the injuries would transfer back."

"That might all be true," Ron said uncertainly, "but... Scabbers probably just had a fight with another rat or something. He's been in my family for ages, right—"

"Twelve years," my godfather murmured. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

"We took excellent care of him!" Ron said.

"Not looking too good at the moment though, is he?" My godfather asked, narrowing his eyes at Scabbers. "I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again."

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" Ron snapped.

"Isn't that Addy?" My godfather mumbled.

"Yep," I said, wincing. I looked down and saw my bandage was completely soaked through now, and I came to a realization how dizzy I really was.

"Addy was always a very intelligent cat," Sirius said. "The most intelligent of her kind that I've ever met. When Beth was a baby, she nearly fell out of the crib, and Addy began to meow so loudly it let James and I know something was wrong. And she recognized Peter for what he was right away. When she met again here, she remembered me. She's been helping me since."

"She's been WHAT?" Hermione cried.

"She tried to bring Peter to me but couldn't," Sirius said. "She told me Beth kept letting her out at night to hunt because she knew, but even then it wasn't enough. Addy then stole the passwords into Gryffindor Tower for me... as I understood it she took them from a boy's bedside table. The blood on the sheets? It was another faked death."

"But—" Harry said. "Weren't YOU the Secret Keeper?"

"We've been over this," I hissed. "PETER was the Secret Keeper."

"But— Sirius—"

"I as good as killed them," Sirius mumbled softly. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment... persuaded them to use him as Secret Keeper instead of me... I'm to blame, I know it. The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe. But when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. When I arrived, Hagrid was holding Beth and Harry, and the house was destroyed. I realized what Peter must've done... what I'd done..."

"Oh my god," I gasped, feeling sick to my stomach. "That night... now I remember that moment... I knew I'd seen you that night... but I didn't... not until now..."

I was immediately snapped back into a memory.

_Hagrid was holding me so tight to his chest I could hardly breathe. Harry was asleep, and all around the house several Muggles had begun to gather._

_Then Sirius sprinted forward to us._

_"What happened?" Sirius asked. "Where are James and Lily?"_

_"They're dead," Hagrid said gravely. "Harry here was hit by a curse, I reckon', and Elizabeth here is fine, but the 'hole top o' the house is blown up, yeh'd think a dragon burned it down..."_

_"Mommy and daddy started playing this game with silly man!" I said, wiping my eyes and sniffling loudly. "This game is not fun."_

_Sirius looked as though he was about to burst into tears._

_"Hagrid, I can take them," Sirius said. "I'm Harry's godfather... I'll take them to Remus' place, he's Elizabeth's godfather.."_

_"An' where will you go?" Hagrid asked._   
_"Nevermind that. Please Hagrid, let me take them..."_

_"I can'," Hagrid said. "Dumbledore's orders."_   
_"Dumbledore?" Sirius asked. "But Remus and I should both be able to try and raise them, we're their family, I can ask Remus to bring his stuff over to my place..."_

_"I reckon Dumbledore wants them ter be with their aunt and uncle," Hagrid said._

_"Then let me take Elizabeth to Remus," Sirius said. "She's already seen so much, she can't grow up with Muggles who hate magic, she's always going to wonder why she can remember this happening and why she's told it's a false memory."_

_I didn't understand what was going on, why my parents weren't there, why Hagrid and Sirius were arguing, and why Sirius looked so angry._

_"I wish I coul' say yes," Hagrid said. "But Dumbledore's orders-"_

_"Damn it!" Sirius snarled. "Fine.. Fine.. but take my motorbike."_

"I was going to take you to Remus' place," Sirius said. "Then I was going to hunt Peter. I expect if I'd done so it would have given him time to escape and I never would have ended up in Azkaban."

"We can't change the past," my godfather said sternly. "Now Ron, give me that rat."

"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" Ron asked tensely.

"Force him to show himself," my godfather said. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."

Ron hesitated, and I growled.

"Give him the bloody rat," I snarled.

Ron shot me a look and plopped Scabbers into Sirius' waiting hands. He squeezed him tight as my godfather positioned his wand in the rat's face.

"Together," Sirius said.

My godfather nodded. "On the count of three. One— two— THREE!"

Blue-white light exploded from both wands. Scabbers was levitated in midair, then suddenly he fell to the floor, and began to transform into the man I knew to be Peter Pettigrew.

Strangely, I couldn't really remember him at all. But when he transformed into a short man with colorless hair and small watery eyes, I recognized him as someone I used to know.

"Well hello, Peter," my godfather said in a strange pleasant sounding bitter voice. "Long time no see."

"S-Sirius," Peter squeaked. "R-Remus. My friends... my old friends..."

Sirius raised his wand, but my godfather held his hand down.

"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died," my godfather said coldly. "The night you made Sirius and I's godchildren orphans. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed..."

"Remus!" Peter cried, his eyes wide. "You don't believe Sirius, do you? He tried to kill me, Remus?"

"So we've heard," my godfather snapped. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you Peter, if you'll be so—"

"He's come to try and kill me again!" Peter wailed, pointing at Sirius with his middle finger. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too! You've got to help me Remus!"

"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," my godfather said.

"Sorted things out?" Peter asked, staring wildly around the room. "I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!"

"You're hilarious," I snorted, making Peter stare at me. "You KNEW Sirius would break out of Azkaban, then? When no one's done it before?"

"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Peter squealed. "How else did he get out of there? I suppose He Who Must Not Be Named taught him a few tricks!"

At this, I took a furious step forward, ignoring the blinding pain in my side.

"Don't be an idiot," I snarled. "We know Voldemort was YOUR master!"

"I don't know what you mean—"

"I think I have a theory," I said fiercely, glaring at Peter. "I think you hid these twelve years because you're afraid that if they knew you were alive, they'd hunt you down, and you'd have to answer to them."

"You don't know what you're talking about —"

"I've heard the Death Eaters screaming all sorts of things in their sleep," Sirius cut in. "Sounds like Beth is right, and they think the double crosser double crossed them. Voldemort went to the Potters' on your information, and then met his downfall there. And not all Voldemort's supporters ended up in Azkaban, did they? There are still plenty out there, biding their time, pretending they've seen the error of their ways... if they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter..."

"Don't know what you're talking about!" Peter cried shrilly. "You don't believe this— this madness, Remus—?"

"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understand why a supposedly innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat," my godfather said flatly.

"Innocent and scared!" Peter said. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban— the spy, Sirius Black!"

"How dare you," Sirius growled, taking a step forward. "I, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter— I'll never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us... me and Remus and James..."

Peter looked incredibly afraid.

"And then you constantly disappeared, didn't you?" Sirius asked. "Beth's second birthday... we were all there except for you... said you couldn't make it..."

"Me, a spy... you must be out of your mind!" Peter cried. "Don't know how you can say such a—"

"Lily and James only made you Secret Keeper because I suggested it!" Sirius hissed venomously. "I thought it was the perfect plan... a bluff... Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you... it must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters."

Peter began to mutter incoherently, and I found my rage towards him building up. At this rate, my pain was so great I'd likely drop to the floor at any minute, but I was so pumped full of adrenaline and fueled by anger that it would not let my body lose consciousness.

Sirius turned to Harry, his eyes brimming with tears. "Believe me. Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."

And it seemed that Harry finally believed. He looked at Sirius, then at me, then nodded.

"I believe you," he said.

"NO!" Peter wailed.

He fell to his knees and clasped his hands together. "Sirius— it's me, it's Peter... your friend... you wouldn't..." he turned wildly to my godfather. "Remus!

You don't believe this! Wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"

"He couldn't take his chances if I was the spy," my godfather said. "Now Sirius, will you forgive me for not fully believing you even though Beth put up an astoundingly good argument in your favor to me several times?"

"Of course, Remus," Sirius said, grinning. "And you, Beth, thank you, for believing in my all along."

I smiled as he shuffled over and pulled me into a gentle hug.

"Now Remus," Sirius said, pulling away and rolling up his sleeves. "Shall we kill him together?"

"Yes, I think so," my godfather said grimly.

"You wouldn't... you won't!" Peter gasped. He scrambled towards Ron. "Ron! Haven't I been a good friend... a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you? You're on my side... aren't you?"

Ron recoiled in disgust. "I let you sleep in my bed!"

Peter then turned to Hermione.

"Sweet girl... clever girl... you— you won't let them... help me..."

Hermione also stared at him, repulsed, and drew away.

Peter desperately knelt before Harry. "Harry... Harry... you look just like your father... just like him..."

Harry growled and kicked Peter slightly, making him wail and collapse before me. He looked up, his eyes wide.

"Sweet Elizabeth," he moaned. "A beautiful baby. The spitting image of Lily... I've heard your brilliant... I've watched you grow up... you're clever and brilliant... just like her... and you have James' personality... your parents would be so proud—"

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HER?" Sirius roared. "HOW DARE YOU MENTION JAMES AND HOW DARE YOU SPEAK FOR HIM AND LILY? OF COURSE THEY'D HAVE BEEN PROUD OF HER! BUT THANKS TO YOU, THEY DIDN'T GET TO WATCH HER BECOME ONE OF THE FINEST WITCHES HOGWARTS HAS EVER SEEN!"

"Beth—" Peter began.

"Get the bloody hell away from me you murderer," I snarled.

Peter whimpered and shuffled back to Harry. "Harry... Harry... James wouldn't have wanted me killed... James would have understood, Harry... he would have shown me mercy!"

My godfather and Sirius both shot forward and seized Peter, throwing him back against the floor.

"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," my godfather said in a dangerous voice. "Do you deny it?"

"Remus... Remus... what could I have done?" Peter wailed. "The Dark Lord... you have no idea... he has weapons you can't imagine... I was never brave like you and Sirius and James. I never meant it to happen, He Who Must Not Be Named forced me—"

"DON'T LIE!" Sirius bellowed. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING HIM INFORMATION FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"

"He— He was taking over everywhere!" Peter gasped. "What was there to be gained by refusing him?"

"What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard that has ever existed?" Sirius snapped. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand!" Peter choked. "He would have killed me!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!" Sirius spat.

"You should have realized if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would," my godfather said softly. "Good bye, Peter."

Hermione let out a soft gasp and covered her face, turning away. In my state of anger I couldn't look away. Justice was about to be served.

"NO!"

Harry ran forward and stood between Peter, Sirius, and my godfather. "You can't kill him. You can't."

"Harry!" I screamed. "That— That rat is the reason we have no parents! He let you almost be killed!"

"I know that!" Harry said. "We'll hand him over to the dementors and send him to Azkaban! But don't kill him..."

"Harry!" Peter gasped, hugging Harry's knees. "You— Thank you— it's more than I deserve— thank you—"

I lunged forward and kicked Peter's face, sending him sprawling away from Harry.

"Get off him!" I snarled. "Just because he spared you doesn't mean we won't give you to the dementors!"

"Think what he did, Harry..." my godfather said slowly.

"He can go to Azkaban," Harry said fiercely. "He deserves that."

"Whatever," I hissed angrily. "Now let's get out of here, I'd very much like to continue studying for my OWLs next week."

My godfather and Sirius nodded, beginning to discuss a way to get Snape and Peter out with us.

I was now furious with Harry for allowing Peter to walk free. As we began to make our way out of the Shrieking Shack, I couldn't help but think that letting Peter live was about to become a big mistake.


	30. Chapter 30

We probably looked really strange all together.

A boy with a broken leg. A boy with a bleeding head. A girl with blood all over her face from no visible source. A girl with her rib sticking out her side. A man who's a dog. A man who's a rat. A man who's a werewolf. And a man who's a bitch.

Ok Snape isn't a bitch to me on a daily basis but he was earlier so I'm not too pleased with him.

Getting back through the tunnel toward the Whomping Willow proved to be more difficult than getting in. I assume I should have figured that out, but I didn't.

"You know what this means?" My godfather asked me as I tried to help Ron up the gap.

"What?" I inquired.

"Sirius is free," he said. "Harry could move in with him, if he wanted to. Just as I was appointed your guardian, Sirius was appointed his."

"Really?" I gasped. "He could leave the Dursleys?"

"Yes," My godfather said, smiling. "Then you could leave too, and Sirius and I could own a house together to make sure you and Harry live under the same roof."

"That's brilliant!" I cried. "So—so we just wait for Sirius' name to be cleared and we could all live together?"

"Certainly," My godfather said. "Like it was meant to be. I will always hold a grudge against Dumbledore for allowing Harry to live in that household for so long."

"— Leave the Dursleys?" I heard Harry say. I smiled, and turned to see him talking to Sirius. I suppose Sirius had just proposed the same thing my godfather did.

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," Sirius said quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd—"

"Are you insane?" Harry asked. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can Beth and I move in?"

I turned back to my godfather, seeing he was grinning ear to ear as he began to climb through the gap so I could pass Pettigrew to him.

Somehow we all managed to twist ourselves and Snape's floating unconscious body through the gap. Addy went ahead and pressed the knot to stop the Whomping Willow from murdering us. I really thought that at the rate we were going, we might make it back to the castle just fine and everything would get better.

The grounds were incredibly dark now. The only light that reached us was from the windows, and even that was dim. Pettigrew kept wheezing as we walked onward, and I felt a grand desire to kick him hard in the stomach, but at this point I could barely move without wanting to throw up and collapse on the floor and curl myself up into a fetal position, so I opted out of doing that.

We didn't talk on the way back to the castle, which made me worry about what was going on inside everyone's head. I sure hoped Ron wouldn't need therapy after this.

Suddenly, there was a low howl of wind, and the clouds overhead moved to let moonlight splash itself over all of us.

I froze immediately, staring at my godfather.

"He didn't take the potion!" I hissed. I stepped forward and grabbed onto my godfather's arm. "Uncle Remus—"

"Beth get away from him!" Sirius said, his eyes filled with fear. "All of you— RUN!"

But no one moved. Harry and Hermione were both staring horrified as my godfather began to shiver violently, and they seemed rooted to the spot.

"Leave it to me!" Sirius yelled. "RUN!"

There was a snarling noise and my godfather swatted me aside, making me scream as I landed painfully on my side. I heard another crack when I hit the ground, and the pain was so blinding I saw red flash before me.

My godfather was beginning to transform, and it was happening much too quickly. Harry and Hermione weren't moving, they were too afraid. If they didn't run—

Too late. Much too late.

Sirius transformed into a dog and launched himself onto my godfather as he became a full werewolf. Their claws were ripping at each other, yelps and growls piercing the previously silent night.

My godfather tossed the dog aside. Sirius let out a loud yelp. My godfather then turned to Harry and Hermione.

Without thinking, I transformed into a wolf and jumped at him, knocking him down. I snapped my jaws and growled, slashing at him with my claws as he tried to push me off.

His hind legs kicked me in the stomach and made me fly back. The werewolf leapt onto me and bit me hard in the neck, making me yell so loudly that Hermione began to wail. I waved my paws around madly, trying to cut his face any way I could to get him off me. I would never, ever, want to hurt my godfather, but if I didn't get him off me he'd kill me.

It was futile. I was much too tiny to do anything. Ignoring the blinding pain I felt, I transformed into a werewolf slightly larger than him and threw him off me, cutting him across the shoulder and growling loudly.

My godfather let out a pained howl and began running straight for the Forbidden Forest. I looked around as I transformed back, feeling more nauseous than I'd ever felt before in my life. I had NEVER transformed into an animal to fight another creature before. It's probably to the date the worst experience of my life.

"BETH!" Hermione screamed, running toward me as I landed eagle sprawled on my back. I breathed unsteadily, grabbing my neck wildly.

Crap. It was torn open from where my godfather had bitten me. The injuries would transfer over, he'd said. Crap, crap, crap.

"P-Pettigrew," I croaked, spitting blood out of my mouth. "W-Where d-did he g-go?"

"He turned back into a rat and disappeared!" Harry said angrily. "He cursed Ron!"

I forced myself to sit up and my eyes widened as I saw Ron was barely conscious— unable to recognize anyone, from what it looked like.

"Sirius!" Harry yelled to the heap I knew to be Sirius. "Pettigrew's gone! He transformed!"

Sirius forced himself to get up and began to run down the grounds in pursuit of the rat.

"We'd better get you all to the castle and tell someone," Harry said, trying to pick up Ron as Hermione attempted to help me up.

From the distance there was a loud and painful whine.

"S-Sirius," I choked, spitting out more blood. "W-We have to— to help—"

"Beth, sit down!" Hermione pleaded as I began to get up.

But I didn't listen. I began to stagger down the way Sirius had gone. I didn't care how hurt I was, I couldn't just leave Sirius alone wherever he was, in pain.

Behind me, Harry and Hermione began to follow. I ran as fast as I could until I reached the edge of the Black Lake, where we found Sirius, as a man, crouched on all floors, moaning in pain.

"No.... please," he said, his voice cracking.

"Look!" Hermione screamed.

Turning my head to look was probably a bad idea. Not only did it hurt me physically, but it hurt me mentally. How in the HELL were we going to tackle the hundreds of Dementors coming our way?

"Hermione, think of something happy!" Harry yelled, raising his wand.

I took mine out of my pocket and raised it, mustering as much strength as I could.

"E-Expecto P-Patronum..." I gagged, sending a feeble and useless light to the dementors.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry yelled. "Expecto Patronum!"

"Expecto P-P-Patronum!" I cried, tears beginning to flood out of my eyes. There were so many dementors... so many of them... so dark... they were so close....

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry bellowed. "Hermione, help us! Expecto Patronum!"

"Expecto—" Hermione whispered, "Expecto— Expecto—"

She couldn't do it. The dementors were ten feet away from us now. They were closing us in, forming some sort of wall around us.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Hermione tried once more, but simply shivered and shook her head. She looked at me, her eyes wide, and collapsed on the floor in a dead faint.

"H-Harry!" I cried, an idea coming into my head. "I-I'll turn— I-I'll turn into— I'll—"

"You'll be killed!" Harry yelled. "You can't try and turn into a Patronus—"

I took a step forward and closed my eyes.

"BETH!" Harry cried. "You'll lose your powers! This is a sacrifice! You can't—"

But I ignored him. I extended my arms outward and concentrated so hard it almost made me black out.

I felt my body burn as it started to change. Would I die while transforming? I probably had lost liters of blood at this point, and I was much too maimed to have any strength left—

I began to glow. Literally glow. I could hear Harry yelling at me to stop, but I wasn't listening to that.

I became a source of light. Pure light. The dementors nearest me gave a strange sort of cry and began to back away.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry howled. "BETH! BETH—"

His eyes rolled and he collapsed. I saw he was still conscious, but only barely.

I willed myself to walk toward the dementors, radiating the strongest energy I knew— happiness.

I was thinking of when Harry was born. When Ginny was born. When I first arrived at Hogwarts. When I first met Harry. When I first kissed George. When I first met Sirius. When we won the Quidditch Cup.

Whatever I thought of was not enough. For a moment my form flickered, then I collapsed on the floor.

My vision was blurrier than before. I was dying, I was sure of it. It'd been a stupid idea. I was probably going to lose my powers now.

I used the last bit of my strength to crawl to Harry. I could hear my mother screaming the way she had that night, and I knew he could hear her too. He gripped my hand tightly and his lips began to move.

"Dad..." he croaked, pointing at a figure I could see in the distance.

I could see it too. For a moment I could just see the outline, but when I focused I swear I saw my father standing across the lake, producing an enormous Patronus that began to drive the dementors away.

I smiled, and then felt my consciousness slip completely away.

________

I woke up to the sound of footsteps.

"Hmm?" I mumbled, opening my eyes and seeing Harry and Hermione walking into the Hospital Wing.

"What the hell happened?" I mumbled.

"We'll tell you later," Hermione whispered as she darted to a bed and tucked a strange necklace into her robes.

Just as Harry and Hermione tucked themselves in, Madame Pomfrey came into the room.

"Did I hear the headmaster leaving?" She asked. "Am I allowed to look after my patients now? Ah— Miss Potter! You're awake!"

She jogged over to me and immediately began removing bandages she'd placed on my neck. I gagged as she forced a spoonful of something awful into my mouth and began to press a cloth dipped in a foul smelling solution against my skin. I sucked in air painfully and looked at her angrily. I wasn't really angry at her, it just really fucking hurt.

"You're going to have a bit of a nasty scar there," Madame Pomfrey said, pursing her lips as she changed my bandages. "I promise I'll do everything I can to prevent that but the scarring is very deep— I'm quite surprised you didn't die, Miss Potter."

"Oh my god," I whispered, sitting up so quickly Madam Pomfrey took a small leap back. I looked at my hands and gulped, which resulted in a sharp pain shooting through my entire body.

"Dear girl you must stay still!" Madam Pomfrey chastised me.

"I have to try and summon something," I said frantically, trembling all over. "Name an object— anything!"

"You are FORBIDDEN from using any of your powers until I say so!" Madam Pomfrey said. "If you even try you might very well hurt yourself more in the process and it is my understanding you have two OWLs to take next week!"

Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement, which made me scowl.

Madam Pomfrey then got to dressing my side wound, and she tsked so many times I lost count.

"That'll be another scar, I suppose?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, sounding annoyed. "Merlin knows how you're still alive— immortal or not."

"I wouldn't have died anyway I'd have just lost my powers," I said icily. "It'd be nice to see if I still have them—"

Madam Pomfrey smacked my forehead with a towel. "You will NOT, Miss Potter! If you don't listen to me I'll pour a Sleeping Draught down your throat!"

"You wouldn't," I said fiercely.

"Believe me I would!" She said. "If it'll stop you from doing something so utterly stupid!"

I growled. Hermione let out a nervous laugh, and Madam Pomfrey shook her head.

"You're as stubborn as your father," she said, smiling slightly. "I remember once, he broke three ribs during a Quidditch match and absolutely refused to spend the night! I remember your mother had to bribe him with food to get him to stay calm."

I grinned slightly. I was as stubborn as my dad.

Then I frowned, because thinking of my parents made me think of Pettigrew and how he'd gotten away.

There was suddenly a distant roar of fury, sounding like it came from above us. Was God angry at Pettigrew too?

"What was that?" Madam Pomfrey said in alarm.

There were angry voices now, growing louder and louder.

"Really— they'll wake everybody up!" She cried. "What do they think they're doing?"

Whoever was yelling was coming nearer, because I could make out what they were saying now.

"He must have Disapparated Severus. We should have left somebody in the room with him. When this gets out—"

"HE DIDN'T DISAPPARATE!" Snape roared. "YOU CAN'T APPARATE OR DISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS— HAS— SOMETHING— TO— DO— WITH— POTTER!"

"Severus be reasonable, Harry has been locked up—"

The door of the Hospital Wing flew open. In came Snape, Dumbledore, and Cornelius Fudge. Fudge looked angry, but nowhere near as furious as Snape. Dumbledore looked calm as ever.

"OUT WITH IT, POTTER!" Snape snarled. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Professor Snape!" Madame Pomfrey shrieked. "Control yourself!"

"See here, Snape, be reasonable," Fudge said. "The door's been locked, we just saw—"

"THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!" Snape bellowed, pointing at Harry, then at Hermione, then finally at me.

"Elizabeth Potter wasn't even conscious when we left the room!" Fudge cried. "She's more maimed than any of them, do you really think—"

"THEN IT WAS HER BROTHER—"

"Calm down, man!" Fudge barked. "You're talking nonsense!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW POTTER! HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT—"

"That will do, Severus," Dumbledore said serenely. "Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since I left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds?"

"Of course not!" Madam Pomfrey trilled. "I'd have heard them!"

"There you have it, Severus," Dumbledore said. "Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Hermione are able to be in two places at once, I'm afraid I don't see any point in troubling them further."

Snape was breathing so heavily I was afraid he might strangle someone.

"Fellow seems quite unbalanced," Fudge said bluntly. "I'd watch out for him if I were you, Dumbledore."

"Oh, he's not unbalanced, just suffered a severe disappointment," Dumbledore said softly.

He and Fudge then continued to speak as they left the room. Madam Pomfrey finished dressing my bandages then left to her office, instructing us all to sleep.

Ron woke up shortly afterward, and Harry and Hermione began telling an incredible story about how they used Hermione's Time Turner (she's had a bloody Time Turner this entire term!) and went back in time to save Buckbeak and Sirius. I was disappointed to learn they hadn't been able to stop Pettigrew from escaping, but was proud nevertheless that they'd managed to save Sirius from the Dementor's Kiss. I even learned that the figure I saw that I perceived to be my father had just been Harry from the future, casting his first fully corporeal Patronus— a stag, like my dad— and saving our lives.

The next day the trio was released, which meant I had the Hospital Wing to myself to study for the OWLs I would be taking in two days time. Madam Pomfrey initially declined my plea to have my friends come in and study with me, but eventually she let Batavia and Bixby visit me for an hour before allowing the twins, Lee, Angelina, and Alicia to hold a study session with me.

Of course I told them all about what happened. They were amazed.

"You turned INTO a Patronus?" Lee asked, gawking at me. "That's AWESOME!"

"You could have DIED, Beth!" Angelina shrieked.

"Well I didn't," I said happily.

"Do you still have your powers?" Fred asked.

The room went silent.

"I-I dunno," I said, looking to Madam Pomfrey's office and seeing she wasn't in there. "I-I'd like to try and check but she won't let me."

George pursed his lips together and came and sat next to me, stroking my hair. "Even if you lost them we won't love you any less. You're still Elizabeth freaking Potter."

I smiled at him, which made him lean down and kiss me. The others groaned at this, and whined that we needed to study.

After a few hours of reviewing and LOTS of kisses from George, Madam Pomfrey released me from the Hospital Wing and told me I needed to come in after my exams to get my wounds checked.

Enjoying my freedom, I decided I'd go visit my godfather first. I found Harry on the way there.

"Hello!" I said happily. "I'm free!"

He didn't seem too happy.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Snape told everyone Uncle Remus is a werewolf!" Harry said furiously. "Now he's packing!"

I gaped at him, and jogged with him to my godfather's office.

His door was open, most of his things already in his trunk. He looked sad when he saw us walk in.

"I saw you two coming," he said, managing a small smile. "How are you, Elizabeth?"

"I'm good," I chirped, frowning at Harry.

"Hagrid said you'd resigned," Harry said flatly. "It's not true, is it?"

"I'm afraid it is," my godfather said.

"Why?" Harry demanded. "The Ministry of Magic don't think you were helping Sirius, do they?"

"No, Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge I was trying to save your lives," my godfather said. "That was the final straw for Severus. I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him hard. So he er— accidentally let slip that I'm a werewolf this morning at breakfast."

"Accidentally my arse!" I hissed.

"Language," my godfather said.

"Sorry," I said, although I wasn't sorry. "Uncle Remus you can't leave just because of that—"

"Elizabeth, by this time tomorrow parents will be owling the school about how they don't want a werewolf teaching their children," he said. "After last night, I see the point. I could have bitten any of you... that must never happen again.."

At this, Harry looked at me, and I flashed a look at him not to say anything. My godfather had no idea he'd bitten me.

Unfortunately, my godfather isn't oblivious. He noticed, and looked directly at the bandage on my neck. His eyes widened and the books he was holding dropped to the floor. He collapsed into the chair beside him and held his head in his hands.

"Oh my Merlin," he mumbled, his body shaking furiously. "Oh Merlin— Elizabeth— I did that, didn't I? Oh Merlin—"

"Uncle Remus!" I cried, running over and holding his hand. I could see he was crying.

"Do you have any idea what I've done to you?" My godfather sobbed. "I-I might've just made you a werewolf!"

"I don't think so," I said. "I-I don't feel any different..."

"Elizabeth you won't know until the next full moon— oh my Merlin I am so, so sorry..."

I tried to hug him but he pushed me away.

"I can't hurt you anymore," he choked. "I may have just ruined your life..."

"I don't CARE about that, Uncle Remus!" I cried. "You— you RAISED me! I couldn't be mad at you for this, you didn't do it consciously!"

"This is exactly why I need to leave," he said, his voice heavy.

"But you're our uncle!" Harry cried. "And the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had!"

"I can't risk hurting anyone," he said, straightening up and tossing the books he'd dropped into his trunk and popping the lid shut. "You two— I am so incredibly proud of you. You did something incredible, learning a Patronus charm. And if I could I'd stay and teach you more, watch your progress. But I've hurt my own daughter, I can't risk hurting another student."

"D-Daughter?" I choked.

My godfather looked at me with sad eyes. "You may as well have been my daughter, Elizabeth. I'll never forgive myself for having done this to you. I'm so sorry—"

I forced myself into his arms and hugged him tightly, rubbing his back.

"I'm not mad," I said. "You didn't hurt me because you wanted to. I could never hate you. Just make sure you take the potion next time— it's all I ask."

My godfather was crying as he hugged me back, still shaking furiously. My brother came and pulled us all into a hug, just as Dumbledore walked into the room.

"Your carriage is here, Remus," he said quietly.

My godfather broke apart from us and wiped his eyes, taking out the Marauder's Map and thrusting it into Harry's hands. "Your dad would've wanted you to have this," he said. "Use it well. I-I'm coming, Headmaster."

"Remus," Dumbledore said gently. "Miss Potter is fine, she won't become a werewolf. She wasn't in a human form when you bit her."

"She wasn't?" My godfather asked in disbelief.

"No, I wasn't," I said. "I was a wolf too."

The look of relief that came over my godfather's face was comforting. He pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I'm sorry..."

I simply rested my head on his chest and hugged him back.

Then just like that, he left.

"I wish he could have stayed," I said, tears welling up in my eyes.

"As do I, Elizabeth," Dumbledore said. "Remus is a charming man, and an excellent teacher."

Harry huffed at this and sat down on the desk.

"Why so miserable, Harry?" Dumbledore inquired.

"Uncle Remus is gone," Harry mumbled. "And we didn't make a difference. Pettigrew still got away."

"It made all the difference in the world, Harry," Dumbledore said. "You helped uncover the truth. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate."

"Oh Merlin," Harry said, touching his forehead. "The other day— when I was having my Divination exam— Professor Trelawney's voice— it went all deep and her eyes rolled and she said Voldemort's servant was going to set out to return him before midnight... she said the servant would help him come back to power... and then she sort of became normal again and she couldn't remember what she said. Was— was she making a real prediction?"

"I think she might have been," Dumbledore said calmly, causing me to gape between him and Harry.

"But doesn't this make it my fault if Voldemort comes back?" Harry asked. "I stopped Sirius and Uncle Remus from killing Pettigrew!"

"The consequences of our actions are complicated, Harry," Dumbledore said. "You did a noble thing, saving Pettigrew's life. He owes his life to you now, and that creates a certain bond between you. This is magic at its deepest, most impenetrable. One day the time will come when you will be very glad you saved Pettigrew's life."

"Are you saying Pettigrew will owe Harry and have to do him a favor later?" I asked.

"Exactly," Dumbledore said, his eye twinkling. "Now Harry, go downstairs and join your friends. I have a feeling your sister wishes to talk to me."

Harry nodded and left, and Dumbledore turned to me.

"So it's inevitable then, that Voldemort will come back?" I asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "He will return. When, is the question."

"When he comes back he'll be back... with a body? Or like last time?"

"That I cannot say just yet," Dumbledore said. "With Peter helping him I suspect he might manage to make himself a body, but I can't be certain."

"Great," I mumbled. "So he'll be well enough to come after Harry and I now."

"Quite likely, yes."

I looked up at Dumbledore and pursed my lips together. "Can you tell me now? Why Voldemort didn't kill me?"

"Elizabeth, you don't need that knowledge yet," Dumbledore said. "When the time comes, you will now."

"I need to know," I said fiercely. "If he's coming after Harry and I—"

"Elizabeth," Dumbledore said gently, "I have reason to believe that this time... he's going to be focusing on YOU."

"Me?" I asked. "But why me? He only wanted to kill Harry to begin with, so isn't he after BOTH of us now?"

"When Tom Riddle attempted to get you to join his side last year, I can up with a theory," Dumbledore said. "I did not want to tell you at the time, but now you are fifteen. And you need to hear this. I believe that Voldemort will attempt to get you on his side and use you to defeat your brother."

I stared at him. "No. No, I won't let him use me like that."

"Nevertheless I believe he will try," Dumbledore said. "Prepare yourself, Elizabeth. I suspect that from here it will only become more difficult."

Then he just got up and left without another word, leaving me more confused than ever.

The following week I did in fact take my Potions and Transfiguration OWLs. I think I might've done better if I hadn't been so distracted the entire test, but I suppose I must be content with the fact I still scraped past both with an Outstanding (my results came out the last day of term since I only took two tests).

Sitting on the train as it began to pull over at King's Cross station, I though about how glad I was that this year was over. Although I knew now things were never going to be the same, I felt a sense of joy knowing now, there was more to look forward too.

One, the possibility that Sirius, my godfather, Harry, and I could someday all live together.

Two, the chance to avenge my parents.

Three, the chance to enjoy dates at Hogsmeade with George. My godfather had signed my permission slip at last, since Sirius had signed Harry's. We could both go to Hogsmeade now, and I knew that was going to be incredible.

"Beth?"

I looked up and saw that my friends had all left the compartment, and only George remained.

"Did I go blank?" I asked sheepishly.

"Yep," he said, coming to sit next to me. "You okay?"

"I'm good," I said. "Just thinking."

"Thinking about all the dates I'm going to take you on?" He asked, smirking.

"Yes," I said, kissing him firmly on the lips. "Everything is going to be different now, but I guess it'll be an adventure, won't it?"

"And I'll be with you every step of the way," George said, cupping my face in his hands and kissing me on the forehead. He pulled me into a warm hug and I smiled.

"Are you going to tell me?" I asked, remembering suddenly that he still hadn't told me what he saw in the Mirror of Erised.

He pretended he didn't hear. "So I'd say it's safe for you to see if you still have powers, right?"

I rolled my eyes and smirked, holding my hand out and concentrating.

A Chocolate Frog materialized in my hand and I squealed and jumped up. George stood up and spun me around, kissing me passionately.

"You still have powers!" He said, pressing me so close to him that I could scarcely breathe.

"Now you have to tell me!" I said.

George put me down and shook his head, grinning. "Not yet, Beth."

"Aww come on," I said, holding his hand and beginning to pull him out of the compartment.

He spun me around and shook his head. "I'll tell you another secret, how about that?"

"I suppose I'll have to settle for that..."

"I think I'm falling in love with you."

I looked up at him, my eyes wide. "W-What?"

He smirked and pecked my lips. "I'm falling in love with you, Elizabeth Lily Potter."

I flashed him a mischievous grin and flung my arms around him, kissing him again.

"I'm falling in love with you too, George Gideon Weasley."


	31. Chapter 31

"Did you pack your trunk?"

"Yes."

"Books inside?"

"Yes."

"Underwear?"

"I'm not an idiot, Beth."

"Well jeez Harry a person can forget the essentials at times I'm just checking!"

Harry grinned and set his trunk on his bed, heading to the door.

"How do you reckon they're going to come and pick us up?" Harry asked.

"It's the Weasleys," I said. "I suppose they might drive... or something."

This summer had been loads better than the rest. Since Harry had told the Dursleys that he would be keeping in constant contact with Sirius (he mentioned he was the murderer they'd seen on TV, too), they'd been nothing but pleasant to us— well, as pleasant as the Dursleys could be. They DID force us to go on a diet along with Dudley because he needed the support or whatever. For the record, he isn't following the diet at all, so we decided we wouldn't either, in secret of course, and have been having our friends send us food all the time. Bixby even sent me something called a hamburger. It was bloody delicious.

Lately, my godfather hadn't been answering my letters. I think he still felt really guilty for having left my neck scarred, even if I forgave him and insisted I wasn't angry at him. I didn't even mind having a scar on my neck— I could cover it with my hair easily. But he simply didn't understand, and insisted it was safer for me not to see him anymore, which only made me miserable.

Today the Weasleys were coming to pick us up so we could stay at their house until the Quidditch World Cup, which I was beyond excited for.

Harry and I went downstairs and found the Dursleys quite dressed up and waiting for the Weasleys to arrive.

"I hope you told them to dress properly, these people," Uncle Vernon snarled. "I've seen the sort of stuff your lot wear. They'd better have the decency to put on normal clothes, that's all."

Well who KNOWS what they'd choose to wear. To them their wizard clothes were decent and normal enough.

In order to pass the time we had a short lunch of cottage cheese and grated celery. Aunt Petunia didn't eat at all from how anxious she was, and for once Dudley didn't complain— probably out of fear.

"They'll be driving, of course?" Uncle Vernon barked from across the table as Aunt Petunia passed him more cheese.

Harry looked at me, his eyes indicating for me to seep into his mind.

"What the bloody hell do I say?"

"I believe they will be driving," I said.

Uncle Vernon snorted to this. If they did arrive in a car, he'd criticize them more for it. He tended to judge people based on what car they had.

At five o'clock, Uncle Vernon began to grow angry.

"They're late!" He snapped.

"Maybe traffic's bad," I piped up. "They're coming all the way from Ottery St Catchpole."

But even if they were driving... it was getting pretty late. At half past five Uncle Vernon began muttering something to Aunt Petunia, who was wringing her hands together nervously.

"Maybe they think they'll get invited to dinner if they're late," she whispered.

"Well they most certainly won't be," Uncle Vernon hissed. "They'll take the boy and girl and go— there'll be no hanging around. That's if they're coming at all. Probably mistaken the day! I daresay their kind don't set much store by punctuality. Either that or they drive some tin-pot car that's broken d—AAAAAAAARGH!"

I whipped around to where Uncle Vernon was standing. He and Aunt Petunia had darted our way, Dudley coming with them.

Loud hangings and scrapings were coming off the Dursley's boarded up fireplace, which had a fake coal fire plugged into it.

Oh my god they were Flooing to our house.

"Ouch! Fred, no— go back, go back, there's been some kind of mistake— tell George not to— OUCH— George no there's no room, go back quickly and tell Ron—"

"Maybe Beth can hear us, Dad!" The unmistakable voice of George Weasley said. "Maybe she'll be able to let us out—"

"You guys!" I cried. "Calm down— I can summon you out here—"

"What's this?" Uncle Vernon growled. "What's going on?"

"They've tried to get here by Floo powder!" Harry said, looking like he was seconds away from laughing. "They can travel by fire— only you've blocked the fireplace!"

Something was still hammering inside.

"Mr Weasley!" I cried. "Can you hear me?"

The hammering stopped.

"Mr Weasley it's Beth," I said. "The fireplace has been blocked up— you won't be able to get through there!"

"Damn!" Mr Weasley said. "What on earth did they want to block up the fireplace for?"

"They've got an electric fire," Harry said.

"Really?" Mr Weasley asked excitedly. "Eclectic, you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that— let's think— ouch, RON!"

"What are we doing here?" Came Ron's voice. "Has something gone wrong?"

"Oh no, Ron," Fred said sarcastically, "no, this is EXACTLY where we wanted to end up."

"Yeah, we're having the time of our lives here!" George said, his voice muffled.

"Mr Weasley!" I called. "Listen to me!"

"I'm listening Beth but I'm trying to think of what to do—"

"I can summon you out here!" I said. "It won't hurt!"

"Oi Dad let her!" George said. "I've always wanted to be summoned!"

"Are you SURE you can summon people, Beth?" Mr Weasley asked.

"She can," Harry said. "It feels weird though so brace yourselves."

"Damn— oh alright, Beth, but—"

I raised my arms and immediately all four Weasleys landed in front of me, standing up.

"Wicked!" Fred said, coming over to high five me as George picked me up and spun me around.

"That's much better, thank you Beth," Mr Weasley said, brushing dust off his robes. "Ah— you must be Beth and Harry's aunt and uncle!"

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia didn't seem inclined to shake his hand.

"My apologies for the disturbance," Mr Weasley said. "It just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see— just for the afternoon, you know, so we could get Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren't SUPPOSED to be connected, strictly speaking— but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. We won't be going back that way though— we'll figure something out."

Mr Weasley then smiled to Harry and I. "Beth, Harry— hello! Got your trunks ready?"

"They're upstairs," Harry said.

"We'll get it," Fred offered, winking.

"I'll come too," I said, following the twins upstairs. Once we were out of earshot I added "you just wanted a glimpse of Dudley didn't you— to see how fat he really is?"

"Naturally," George said with a grin. Then his grin vanished. "Alright Beth I've something to tell you, don't be mad."

"You sold me to an Egyptian pharaoh."

"No," George said, pursing his lips as we headed upstairs. "Well you see, Mum's been in an awful mood with Fred and I all summer because we only got three OWLs each, so it hasn't given us time to really talk about anything other than the fact that she's REALLY disappointed in us. So I suppose what I'm trying to say is—"

"—he hasn't told her you two are dating," Fred finished.

I blinked at them both and shrugged. "I don't mind. I mean we'll have to tell her sometime— when she's calmer, that is."

George grinned. "Yeah, then Fred can tell her all about Angelina too..."

"I thought you said you owled your Mum about it when you asked her out!" I cried indignantly.

"I didn't," Fred said sheepishly as we reached Harry and I's room. "I WANTED to, truly I did, but not over a letter."

"Well I suppose she won't be visiting anytime soon, will she?" I asked with a smirk.

"No, probably not," George added, taking my trunk.

"I can carry that," I said.

"Nonsense, I'll carry it," he said, pecking me on the cheek.

"Here's a suggestion," Fred said, sitting on Harry's bed. "Not because I want to see it but because I'm a kind person— I suggest you two snog or whatever for a straight minute here because you probably won't get to for the rest of the summer around the house."

"Not everything about a relationship has to do with snogging!" I cried. "Simply enjoying each other's company—"

I looked at George, who had on puppy eyes.

"Oh who am I kidding," I mumbled, grabbing his face and crashing my lips onto his as Fred groaned an covered his face.

Exactly a minute later, we headed back downstairs.

"So Bixby took Katie to America with them this time around," I said, hoping the redness in my cheeks would go down quickly.

"Ah yes," Fred said. "We heard that too— did you hear Oliver's playing for Puddlemere United now?"

"Really? That's wonderful!" I said. "Oh dear Merlin we'll have to deal with Batavia's whining about missing him all YEAR now, won't we?"

"Probably," George said as we arrived back in the living room. "So, how are we getting back, Dad?"

"I've yet to figure that out," Mr Weasley mumbled.

"What if I summon everyone to the Burrow?" I asked.

"Is that possible?" Mr Weasley inquired.

"I've done backwards summoning loads of times— but we need to do it in small groups."

"Alright," Mr Weasley said. "How about— Fred, Ron, and Harry first?"

Fred headed toward Harry, and in the process I'm sure he purposely spilled out toffees across the floor— toffees I knew to be something from their Wizard Wheezes experiments.

"Hang on," he said with a devilish grin, picking them up quickly.

"Harry, Ron, Fred, link arms," I said, rubbing my hands together. They did so and I concentrated.

A quick pop and they disappeared.

"Marvelous!" Mr Weasley said happily. "You have a very talented niece, you know."

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon said nothing.

"Goodbye," I said to them as I went and linked arms with George.

They said nothing again.

"Beth said goodbye to you," Mr Weasley said. "Didn't you hear her?"

"It doesn't matter," I said quickly. "Honestly I don't care—"

"You aren't going to see your niece until next summer," Mr Weasley said, sounding indignant. "Surely you're going to say goodbye!"

"Goodbye then," Uncle Vernon said forcefully. I grinned and beckoned Mr Weasley toward us. Suddenly, a horrible gagging sound happened behind Aunt Petunia, and she screamed.

Dudley staggered toward the coffee table and began gaggling a spluttering on a foot long, purple, slimy thing that was protruding from his mouth, which I realized was his tongue.

I looked at George, my eyes wide. He seemed to be heavily resisting the urge to laugh.

"Not to worry, I can sort him out!" Mr Weasley said. He advanced to Dudley with his wand raised but Aunt Petunia just screamed again and threw herself over Dudley, trying to shield him from Mr Weasley.

"No, really!" Mr Weasley insisted. "It's a simple process— it was the toffee— my son Fred, a real practical joker— but it's only an Engorgement Charm— at least I think it is— please, I can correct it—"

This of course only made the Dursleys panic more. Aunt Petunia was sobbing hysterically and tugging at Dudley's tongue and Uncle Vernon was throwing furniture.

"I'm trying to help!" Mr Weasley yelled angrily. Then he turned to us. "Both of you, just go! I'll sort this out!"

I smirked to George and concentrated. Within seconds we landed in the Weasleys kitchen.

"Did he eat it?" Fred asked excitedly, handing my trunk to Ron.

"Yep!" I said. "What was it?"

"Ton Tongue Toffee!" George said. "Fred and I invented them, and we've been looking for someone to test them on all summer! Merlin, you should've seen it Freddie!"

The kitchen exploded into laughter. I noticed Harry stared strangely at the table, and I turned to where he was looking. My eyes widened and I squealed, running to the table.

"Bill!" I cried, throwing my arms around him. "Charlie!"

"Someone's excited to see us," Bill chuckled.

"I haven't seen you in FOREVER!" I cried.

"Yeah and in that forever you got tall," Charlie said, ruffling my hair. "She used to be so tiny, remember Bill? Now she's a little over half MY height—"

"Oh shut up," I said, since Charlie was one of the shortest Weasley boys. I waved my hand vigorously, beckoning Harry over. "Come say hi!"

"Hey Harry," Charlie said, "how're you doing?"

Harry shook his hand and smiled, then going over to shake Bill's hand.

At that moment, Mr Weasley appeared out of thin air from behind Fred.

"That wasn't funny Fred!" He shouted furiously. "What on earth did you give that Muggle boy?"

"I didn't give him anything!" Fred said, an evil grin plastered on his face. "I just dropped it... it was his fault he went and ate it, I never told him to—"

"You dropped it on purpose!" Mr Weasley roared. "You knew he'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet—"

"Just how big did his tongue end up?" George asked eagerly.

"It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!"

We all roared with laughter again, Bill slapping the table.

"It isn't funny!" Mr Weasley yelled. "That sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard-Muggle relations! I spent half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons—"

"We didn't give it to him because he's a Muggle!" Fred cried indignantly.

"No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git, isn't he Harry?" George asked.

"Yes he is, Mr Weasley," Harry said, nodding his head.

"That's not the point!" Mr Weasley raged. "You wait until I tell your mother—"

"Tell me what?" Mrs Weasley asked silkily, entering the room.

Mrs Weasley smiled at us. "Hello Harry, Beth." Then she frowned at her husband. "Tell me WHAT, Arthur?"

Mr Weasley wiped his forehead. I could tell that as angry as he was with the twins, he hadn't actually intended to tell Mrs Weasley anything. I stared nervously between the two, seeing that Ginny and Hermione had come downstairs in the background.

"Tell me what, Arthur?" Mrs Weasley repeated in a dangerous voice.

"It's nothing, Molly," Mr Weasley mumbled. "Fred and George just— but I've had words with them—"

"What have they done this time?" Mr Weasley asked. "If it's got anything to do with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes—"

"Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping Ron?" Hermione asked abruptly.

"He knows where he's sleeping," Ron said. "In my room, he slept there last—"

"We can all go," Hermione said sharply.

"Oh," Ron said. "Right."

"Yeah, we'll come too—" George began.

"You stay where you are!" Mrs Weasley snarled.

Ron, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione all went upstairs. I went to sit at the table with Bill and Charlie, who seemed amused with everything.

"So, Beth," Bill prompted. "Tell us everything."

I launched myself into an enthusiastic retelling of everything that had happened the past three years. I mentioned both encounters with Voldemort in more detail than I'd have liked to remember, I talked about learning a Patronus charm, studying for my two OWLs, the encounter in the Shrieking Shack a few months ago, and especially everything that had to do with my powers.

"Seems you've been busy," Charlie said over Mrs Weasley's screams. "They've been too, I see. When are you lot going to be mature and settle down with girlfriends and a boyfriend?"

I think the smirk that appeared on my face gave it all away.

"You're still this immature and you're ALL dating?" Bill asked incredulously. "Damn— WHO?"

"Well Fred is with a girl name Angelina," I said. "She's lovely and keeps him in check a lot of the time. He'll be mature around her, but when he's with Lee, George, and I— or even with Bixby and Batavia, he'll be the prankster we all know and love."

"What about Georgie?" Charlie asked. "Let me guess— he's dating a quiet, Quidditch hating book nerd."

I laughed at this and shook my head. "I wouldn't call her quiet at all, and she definitely doesn't hate Quidditch—"

"Merlin's pants!" Bill said, grinning from ear to ear. "YOU'RE dating George?"

"Yes, but shut up!" I hissed as Mrs Weasley continued to yell. "Neither of them have told your mum anything—"

"I always knew you two would be together," Charlie said happily. "Little Georgie's liked you for AGES."

"How did it happen?" Bill asked, like an excited fourteen year old girl.

So then I launched myself into an explanation about that, and how neither of us had made a move until that day that Fred insisted we talk and we kissed.

"We might be needing to give George a couple lessons on how to pick up girls, he really is awful at it!" Bill said.

"You must intimidate him Beth," Charlie said. "I'd be intimidated if I liked a girl who was immortal."

"Well I should've made a move or something too," I said. "It's half my fault."

Bill smirked and shrugged. "At any rate, I'm happy for you too. I always knew you'd become a full part of our family somehow if my parents didn't adopt you."

At that moment Mrs Weasley stopped yelling, so we went silent. She sent Fred and George to their room, and the four who had gone upstairs came back down.

"We're eating out in the garden," Mrs Weasley announced. "There's just no room for twelve people in here. Could you take the plates outside, girls? Bill and Charlie— please start setting up the tables. Knives and forks please, you two—" she motioned to Harry and Ron. "—and Beth— be a dear and come help me cut potatoes."

I went over to Mrs Weasley and took a knife, beginning to slice the potatoes.

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Mrs Weasley sighed. "Those two! I don't know what's going to happen them, I really don't. No ambition, unless you count making as much trouble as they possibly can... what went wrong with them, I ask you?"

I knew it was a rhetorical question but I answered it anyway.

"Mrs Weasley I don't think anything went WRONG with them," I said. "I think they just have a different view of the world. They like to see the fun in things."

"Oh I know that," she said irritably. "But school matters too! It's not as though they haven't got brains. The problem is that they're wasting them, and unless they pull themselves together soon, they'll be in real trouble. I've had more owls from Hogwarts about them than the rest put together! If they carry on the way they're going, they'll end up in front of the Improper Use of Magic Office."

"They still did really well," I said. "George got OWLs in Potions, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Fred got them in Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Those are the most important subjects of all, Mrs Weasley— I'd say they did brilliant."

Mrs Weasley sighed loudly. "Yes... I suppose you're right... those ARE very important..." then she shook her head. "I just don't know where we as parents went wrong with them. It's been the same for years, one thing after another, and they won't listen to— OH NOT AGAIN!"

She had tried to pick up her wand from the table, but it had turned out to be one of the twins' fake wands. It turned into a rubber mouse with a loud squeak.

"One of their fake wands again!" She cried. "How many times have I told them not to leave them lying around? Oh it's useless—"

"It's brilliant that they figured out how to come up with those though," I said timidly as I moved on to chopping carrots. "I don't think I'd have ever figured out the spells needed to do something like that."

Mrs Weasley pursed her lips and nodded. "Yes... yes Beth that is true... oh when will they ever mature? What they need are girlfriends to calm them down— if they felt what it was like to have someone who isn't family tell them that they're going overboard perhaps they might listen..."

I suppressed a grin. Angelina and I would never tell them they were going overboard.

At seven o'clock we gathered around for the delicious dinner Mrs Weasley had made. I sat with the twins and Charlie and discussed the World Cup the entire time.

"Well considering their skill, I say the Irish have a sure chance of winning," I said.

"They flattened Peru at semifinals," Charlie agreed. "And Bulgaria isn't better than Peru at all."

"Bulgaria has Viktor Krum though," Fred said.

"Well Krum's one man and Ireland has seven excellent players," I said.

"But it's useful since he catches the Snitch so quickly," George said, making me shrug.

"I just wish England had got through," Charlie said flatly. "That was embarrassing, that was."

"What happened?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Went down to Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten," Charlie said sadly. "Shocking performance. And Wales lost to Uganda, and Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg."

"I'm still certain Luxembourg cheated," I said. "The way I saw it, the referee kept calling fouls against Scotland for no reason."

"Well the Beater did whack the other's head—"

"Like George did to Flint last year," Fred said with a devilish smirk.

"He did WHAT—"

"Not important," I chirped.

"Look at the time," Mrs Weasley said abruptly, checking her wristwatch. "You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you— you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup. Beth and Harry— if you leave your school list out, I'll get your things for you tomorrow in Diagon Alley. Do you know about how many books you'll be needing?"

"Not many," Harry said. "Beth's giving me most of hers for the core subjects and giving the elective books to Hermione."

"It'll only be my books and a Divination one for Harry," I said. "He and Ron can share that one though."

"Excellent," Mrs Weasley said, looking relieved since it meant she would have to buy one less textbook for Ron. "I was thinking because well, there might not be time after the World Cup— the match went on for five days last time."

"Wow— hope it does this time!" Harry said.

"Well I certainly don't," Percy said. "I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days."

"Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh Perce?" Fred asked.

"That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!" Percy cried indignantly. "It was nothing personal!"

"It was," George whispered as we began to get up. "We sent it."

I masked my laughter with a cough and trotted inside with everyone.

I changed into my pajamas then went upstairs to Ron's room to say goodnight to Harry. I accidentally (TRULY, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT) walked in on George getting dressed (his pants were on, his shirt off).

"Sorry!" I squeaked, covering my eyes and walking out of the room.

"Don't be stupid you've seen me shirtless loads of times," George said. "You— we've seen each other naked."

"We were three and your mum could only keep us calm during bath time if we all got to do it together!" I said, my cheeks turning red. 

George grinned and came over, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me close to him. I pressed one hand on his bare chest and gulped, feeling my cheeks were on fire.

"You look adorable," he said, lifting my chin and looking me in the eyes.

"And you look h-h-hot," I stammered, trying to stop myself from looking at his very nice six pack.

George raised an eyebrow and leaned down, his lips pressing perfectly against mine. I cupped his face in my hands tiptoed to kiss him better. His picked me up and carried me so my back rested on something, probably the wall, and I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist. We grew to have a sort of rhythm as our tongues danced with each other inside George's mouth. I couldn't even believe I knew how to do this— we'd NEVER snogged like this before.

I heard a cough and George and I snapped apart, seeing Harry, Ron, and Fred in the doorway.

"If Mum had seen," Fred tsked, grinning and going over to the sleeping bag he'd stay in.

"I just wanted to sleep," Ron groaned, heading to his bed.

I thought Harry perhaps might be mad— I don't expect any boy would want to see their sister snogging someone the way I'd been, but he wasn't.

"Goodnight Beth," he said, smiling and climbing into his bed. George set me down and grinned sheepishly. I quickly darted out of the room and headed downstairs, running into Mrs Weasley about a fourth of the way down.

That had been a very, very close call.


	32. Chapter 32

I was woken up to Mrs Weasley shaking me firmly. Thank GOD I didn't reach my hand out and swat it all around like I usually did because I'd basically be hitting my mother, which is awful, would've not only made me hate myself but also probably reassured Mrs Weasley that I wasn't worthy of dating her son.

"Time to go, Beth, dear," Mrs Weasley whispered, moving to go wake Ginny.

Hermione was already started to get out of bed by the time I full opened my eyes. Groaning, I cracked my back and neck then shook out my legs, standing up and beginning to get dressed.

Ginny was cursing under her breath, unable to get her pants on because she didn't want to open her eyes. Hermione let out a soft giggle and tripped over her shoes as she rubbed her eyes on her way to the door.

Ginny was taking forever to get ready so Hermione and I went downstairs and found the boys were still not ready either, so we helped Mrs Weasley fill the plates with porridge. By the time the boys came downstairs, breakfast was served.

"What d'you think, Harry, Beth?" Mr Weasley asked, pointing at his outfit. "We're supposed to go incognito— do I look like a Muggle?"

"Yep," I said, smiling. "Very Muggle ish."

"You'll blend right in," Harry added.

"Where're Bill, Charlie, and Per-Per-Percy?" George asked, stifling a yawn. He looked adorable when he did that.

"Well they're Apparating, aren't they?" Mrs Weasley said. "So they can have a bit of a lie in."

"So they're still in bed?" Fred grumbled. "Why can't we Apparate too?"

"Because you're not of age and you haven't passed your test," Mr Weasley said flatly.

"You have to pass a test to Apparate?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes," Mr Weasley said. "The Department of Magical Transportation had to fine a couple of people the other day for Apparating without a license. It's not easy, Apparition, and when it's not done properly it can lead to nasty complications. This pair I'm talking about went and splinched themselves."

"That's GOT to hurt," I said, wincing, remembering when my transformations used to be painful. I'm pretty sure getting splinched must be that bad— or worse.

"What does splinched mean?" Harry asked, looking perplexed as to why everyone at the table had winced along with me.

"It means they left half of themselves behind," Mr Weasley said. "So of course, they were stuck. Couldn't move either way. Had to wait for the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad to sort them out. Meant a fair bit of paperwork, I can tell you, what with the Muggles who spotted the body parts they'd left behind."

"So they just found like, say, an eyeball lying around?" Harry asked me with wide eyes.

"Pretty much," I said. Then, turning to Mr Weasley "Er— they were okay, right?"

"Oh yes," Mr Weasley said. "But they got a heavy fine, and I don't think they'll be trying it again in a hurry. You don't mess with Apparition. There are plenty of adult wizards who don't bother with it. Prefer brooms— slower, but safer."

"But Bill and Charlie and Percy can all do it?" Harry asked.

"Yep," I said. "Bill passed right away— one of the first in his class to manage it on the first try. We were all so proud."

"Charlie had to take the test twice though," Fred added with a grin. "He failed the first time— Apparated five miles south of where he was meant to, right on top of some poor old dear doing her shopping, remember, Beth? We were laughing about that for days—"

"—the funniest part is how he sent her that letter where he wrote the word 'sorry' about thirty times," I said with a smirk. "He passed with flying colors the second time, of course."

"Percy only passed two weeks ago," George told Harry. "He's been Apparating downstairs every morning since just to prove he can."

There was a groan from the stairs. Ginny was finally joining us, rubbing her eyes and sighing dramatically.

"Why do we have to wake up so early?" She grumbled.

"We've got a bit of a walk," Mr Weasley said.

Harry's eyes became the size of saucers. "Walk? What, are we walking to the World Cup?"

"Don't be a prat," I said with a laugh. "That's miles away."

"We're only walking a short way," Mr Weasley said. "It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup—"

"George!" Mrs Weasley yelled suddenly, making us jump.

"What?" George asked in such an innocent voice that it immediately made us realize he and Fred were hiding something.

"What's that in your pocket?" Mrs Weasley trilled.

"Nothing!" He cried.

"Don't you lie to me!" Mrs Weasley snapped, pointing her wand at his pocket. "Accio!"

Several toffees like the ones Fred dropped at the Dursleys zoomed put and straight into Mrs Weasley's hand.

"We told you to destroy them!" She shrieked. "We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!"

George looked at me wide eyes and blinked three times fast.

" _Summon them from my other pocket!!_ "

I did so, and quickly stuffed the toffees in my hoodie pocket. As Mrs Weasley summoned the lot Fred had, I came to a realization that that was the first time I'd ever read George's mind.

"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted as Mrs Weasley dumped the toffees she'd managed to get in the trash.

"Oh, a fine way to spend six months!" She cried. "No wonder you didn't get more OWLs!"

The environment then became very hostile and it lasted all through our departure. Mrs Weasley had kissed us all goodbye, but the twins had walked out without another word to her with their rucksacks on their backs.

"Well have a lovely time," Mrs Weasley said as she pulled Harry and I both into a tight embrace and kissed our foreheads. "And behave yourselves! I'll send Bill, Charlie, and Percy along around midday."

The instant we got out of sight of the house I sprinted forward to the twins and took out the thirty toffees I'd managed to salvage.

"You are sneaky, Beth," Fred said with a grin, pocketing half of them.

"I have the most amazing girlfriend, don't I, Freddie?" George asked, giving me a side hug. It was all he dared to do, since we weren't very far from Mr Weasley.

"When ARE you going to tell them?" Fred inquired, nodding to his dad.

"Maybe next summer," George said with a smirk. "They can't say anything against us if I'm seventeen and Beth is sixteen. That's mature enough."

"Reckon Mum will think it's weird?" Fred asked.

I stared at him, bewildered. "Why would she think that?"

"I mean, you're basically our sister," Fred said.

"Well that MIGHT be strange to your mum at first but BIOLOGICALLY I'm not her child so she can't object," I said. "I mean— say Ginny and Harry ended up together, it'd be the same deal since Harry's practically a son to her— but I don't reckon it'd bother her."

"I hope you're right," George said with a raised eyebrow. "I don't need the Daily Prophet's headline to say 'Boy murdered by his mother for dating his adopted sister who also happens to be the most powerful witch alive.'"

"She'll be fine with it," I assured him. "I-I well, I feel bad not telling her, you know? She almost caught us last night—"

"—thank Merlin you weren't doing MORE last night or my eyes would've burned out," Fred cut in.

"Oh shut up Angelina told me you grabbed her arse for about an hour when you snogged in the broom closet," I hissed, making George raise his eyebrow at his brother.

"Fancy trying out a broom closet next time, Beth?" He asked with a cheeky grin.

"I most certainly do not," I said. "Sounds too uncomfortable."

"It is," Fred said. "Especially when you've got a bon—"

George smacked the back of his head and I burst out laughing.

"Over here Arthur! Over here son, we've got it!"

The twins and I stopped and looked down the hill toward where the voice had come from.

Two tall figures were coming up to join us, one looking very very familiar.

"Oh not Pretty Boy Diggory," George groaned, his eyes narrowing.

"Amos!" Mr Weasley said happily, shaking hands with Cedric's father.

"Arthur, so good to see you!" Mr. Diggory said cheerily.

"This is Amos Diggory everyone," Mr Weasley said. "He works for the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?"

Yes, I knew Cedric. I knew him. 

" _Could you do that for me too?"_

_I looked up and saw Cedric Diggory had come to sit at the Gryffindor table. I raised my eyebrow and summoned food for him, handing it to him and pretending like he was no longer there._

_"I'm Cedric Diggory," he said._

_"Everyone knows that," I said._

_Cedric chuckled. "Nice to meet you, Beth."_

_"Only my friends can call me Beth, thanks," I said with a cheeky grin, shoving some toast into my mouth._

_"Elizabeth, then," Cedric said. "Why are you up so early?"_

_"Peeves was blowing in my ear," I said._

_"Hmm," Cedric said, chuckling slightly. "Aren't you friends with him?"_

_"Yes," I said. "But he's still a prick."_

_"I see," Cedric said. "I couldn't sleep. Today... is going to be interesting."_

_"Tell me about it," I said. "The rain is hitting the ground so hard it's a wonder the roof hasn't crumbled down."_

_"And the winds are very fast today," Cedric added. "Won't be good for you Chasers."_

_"Won't be any better for you Seekers," I said._

_Cedric looked at me curiously. "Have I offended you?"_

_"What?" I asked. "No, I just don't know you. I'm not a big talker with strangers."_

_That was a fat lie. How am I supposed to tell him that I don't find him attractive and that I think he's overrated?_

_"Playing it safe then," Cedric said._

_There was a beat of silence._

_"Why are you still sitting here?" I asked._

_"There isn't anyone else here," Cedric said. "Might as well keep each other company."_

_"I like eating alone," I said._

_Cedric rolled his eyes, which made me send him a nasty glare._

_"That's why you eat surrounded by about ten people," Cedric said._

_"Like I mentioned before, they're my friends," I said._

_Cedric grinned and shook his head. "You're interesting, Elizabeth. I think I'd like to get to know you."_

_"I'm good, thanks."_

_Cedric stared at me curiously then got up, taking his food with him. "Thank you for the food."_

Yep. Cedric Diggory. Tried to get to know me and I didn't let him because I liked George.

"Hi," Cedric said, smiling at everyone.

Everyone said hello back except for George and I. I could see Hermione and Ginny were looking at him strangely, almost like they might be part of the group of girls that fancied him.

"Long walk, Arthur?" Mr Diggory asked.

"Not too bad," Mr Weasley said. "We live just over the other side of the village there. You?"

"Had to get up at two, didn't we Ced?" Mr Diggory chuckled. "I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparition test. Still... not complaining... Quidditch World Cup— wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons— and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy.... all these yours, Arthur?"

"Oh no, only the redheads," Mr Weasley said. "This is Hermione, friend of Ron's— and Harry, another friend—"

Then Mr Weasley smacked his forehead.

"And Elizabeth," he said, smiling. "Keep forgetting she's not my daughter... hard to keep track since she's a redhead too—"

"Merlin's beard!" Mr Diggory said. "Harry? Elizabeth? Harry and Elizabeth POTTER?"

"Yeah," I said, making Mr Diggory's eyes widen.

"Ced's talked all about you both, of course!" Mr Diggory said. "Says you're both marvelous Seekers. I say, Elizabeth, are you friends with Cedric?"

"Erm," I said, turning red. "No..."

"Well you should be!" Mr Diggory said. "A fine pair you'd be— both Quidditch players, both very good at Transfiguration as Cedric tells me you are— why, you should have a chat before the World Cup!"

It's awkward to listen to the dad of a guy you barely know try to set you up with his son while your boyfriend stands behind you balling his fists up and wanting to say something but not being able to because his dad doesn't know you're dating.

"Uh—"

"Dad," Cedric said, looking nervously at me, "you're not going to do what you did last time. If I wanted a girlfriend I'd get one— you don't need to try and set me up with every girl you see that's close to my age."

"This isn't just any girl, Cedric!" Mr Diggory said in a low voice. "It's Elizabeth Potter!"

I felt the negative energy George had radiating off of him like crazy.

Mr Weasley looked at me and pursed his lips, then looked down at his watch. "Must be nearly time. Do you know whether we're waiting for any more, Amos?"

"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets," Mr Diggory said. "There aren't any more of us in this area, are there?"

"Not that I know of," Mr Weasley said. "Yes, it's a minute off... we'd better get ready."

We all crowded around the Portkey and pressed a mere finger onto it.

I looked around and saw Cedric was staring at me. He looked down quickly, which made me roll my eyes and look away. I caught Fred snickering across from me, blinking three times fast.

" _Georgie is going to be really jealous now, Beth."_

" _I don't even find Cedric attractive_ ," I said back to him in his mind.

" _Good thing then_ ," Fred thought. " _Otherwise George might start overthinking..._ "

Before I could try and figure out just what he meant by overthinking, Mr Weasley coughed.

"Three... two.... one...."

My feet flew off the ground and everything started to spin, the wind howling in my ears. It felt like my finger was glued onto the boot, with no hopes of ever coming off. Beside me, Ginny had her eyes shut tight, which probably was the reason she landed on the ground.

I thought I was going to land on my face too, but strong arms caught me around the waist and lowered me down slowly enough that I didn't end up sprawled on the ground.

I whirled around, smiling. "Thanks Geo—"

Cedric smiled back at me, his cheeks turning red, making me jump back and brush his hands away from my waist.

"Erm— thanks," I said, backing away from him.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "You would've broken your ankle."

"Uh huh," I mumbled awkwardly, sliding away towards George, who didn't look too happy.

"So what was that supposed to be?" He inquired.

"Cedric's tried to get to know me last year," I said, shrugging. "I wasn't interested. Guess he thinks he still has a shot— too bad he doesn't."

"He doesn't?" George asked. "You're _sure_?"

The way he asked me made me raise an eyebrow. Was he insinuating that Cedric somehow had a shot at gaining my affection even while I was with George? I didn't want to overthink it— but if George was somehow suggesting that I'd hurt him and choose Cedric over him he was profoundly wrong.

"He doesn't," I said flatly. "You don't need to be worried. It's just Cedric."

"Just Cedric," George scoffed under his breath, walking away. I rolled my eyes and noticed Fred was raising an eyebrow.

"What did I tell you?" He mumbled as I walked up to him.

"He's being an idiot," I said. "I don't know why he doesn't trust me. I'm not going to cheat on him."

"He's just insecure," Fred said. "You do you— don't let him determine who you want to be friends with. I know you told me you don't really care much to be friends with Pretty Boy but if you WANT to be friends with him then you shouldn't let George stop you. Besides— he has loads of friends that are girls and YOU'RE not acting jealous."

"You're right," I said fiercely. "I CAN be friends with whoever the bloody hell I want to be friends with."

______

I won't give details about the game because I know that compared to what happened after, it's REALLY irrelevant.

"Don't tell your mother you've been gambling," Mr Weasley implored the twins as they stuffed the money Ludo Bagman gave them in their pockets. They'd bet Ireland would win but Krum would catch the Snitch— and they'd been right.

"Don't worry Dad," Fred said happily. "We've got big plans for this money. We don't want it confiscated."

Mr Weasley appeared to be about to ask about what plans they meant, but decided against it.

Making our way back to the tent was difficult, to say the least. There were so many people that it was hard to stay together and find our way back to where we'd arrived.

"I don't want to sleep yet," Ron said pleasantly when we did finally arrive.

"We'll have a cup of cocoa before turning in then," Mr Weasley said. "It's much too loud to try and sleep now anyway..."

From there it only got louder because between cocoa and arguing passionately about the match inside the tent, the people outside had no intent of going to bed. Ginny did end up falling asleep at one point and spilling hot cocoa over the floor, so that's when Mr Weasley insisted we all go to bed.

George and I could really only manage a goodnight hug this time around. Personally, I'm glad for it because a kiss didn't seem right— he was still being bitter about the fact that Cedric seemed to have a thing for me. What was I supposed to do though, be rude because Cedric stopped me from breaking my ankles? He wasn't a bad person at all, in fact it was sweet of him to be so considerate.

I summoned Ginny into her bed and tucked her in before kissing her forehead goodnight. Hermione had already passed out on her bunk, so I climbed into the other one and tried to fall asleep.

However, I couldn't sleep. I was incredibly annoyed with George for being so jealous that it made me unable to settle my mind down enough to sleep.

I got up and went into the kitchen, where I found Mr Weasley cleaning up the cups.

"I'll help," I piped up.

"Elizabeth," Mr Weasley said. "You should be asleep."

"I can't sleep," I said quietly, taking several cups over to the sink.

"Ah," Mr Weasley said. "We can stay up and chat if you'd like. Maybe you just need to tire yourself out a bit more."

"Okay," I said, beginning to wash the cups.

"I don't know who else to ask about this," Mr Weasley said, making me look at him curiously. "But with the way Molly's been with them... I can't happen to wonder— do the twins have girlfriends?"

"Erm—" I said, looking down. That'd probably already given it away. "Y-Yeah they do."

"Splendid," Mr Weasley said. "Perhaps that'll help them in the long run to set some sort of goal... Molly has reason to be cross with them of course but... boys will be boys. Fred and George have never been the sort to follow rules, and that's what makes them unique. If all my children were rule abiding citizens I think I'd have quite a boring life, don't you think?"

"Probably," I agreed. "You'd be wondering if Hogwarts even had owls because you'd never get any."

"Exactly," Mr Weasley said. "At least getting owls from the school lets us know they're alright. Because no owls would mean they're not okay, and that'd worry me more."

Then he looked at me and smiled. "What about you? No boyfriends?"

I felt my cheeks grow scarlet.

"You don't need to tell me who," Mr Weasley said. "You are practically my daughter though, I like knowing so I can be prepared to hex anyone who hurts you."

 _Not if the boy I'm dating is your son,_ I thought.

Instead of saying that I smiled at him. "Thanks Mr Weasley."

"I always thought you and George would end up together," Mr Weasley said. "You two always enjoyed each other's company more than anyone else's. It always seemed as though you and him were the twins with all the time you spent together."

I didn't know if George would've wanted me to tell his dad about us, but the agony was killing me.

"George," I blurted out. "George is my boyfriend."

Mr Weasley smiled. "I know. I heard when you told Bill and Charlie."

"Oh," I said, "well... I'm sorry Mr Weasley."

He looked perplexed. "Sorry? What on earth are you sorry for?"

"For not telling you," I said. "I feel bad not having said anything. George and Fred both didn't want to mention the fact we're all in relationships because of how cross Mrs Weasley is with them."

"Nonsense, no need to be sorry for that," Mr Weasley said. "I completely understand. You know, Molly didn't want to tell her parents we were dating for the longest time. Just as long as you two aren't..."

My eyes widened. "Oh no! I swear we're not..."

"You two are responsible," Mr Weasley said. "Immature and very troublesome when you want to be, but responsible. I don't mind— in fact I'm glad George found a good girl, and that you aren't with a boy who will ruin your life. I trust my son is treating you well."

"He is," I said. "And Fred— Fred too. He's really good to his girlfriend... you raised them really well."

Mr Weasley smiled at me.

Then his smile faded. The crowd outside had abruptly ceased their singing. Instead, the air became filled with terrified screams.

Mr Weasley looked at me then darted to the entrance of the tent, looking outside. He drew his wand, observing the crowd.

"Wake the girls," he said, his voice trembling ever so slightly. "Quickly."

My heart hammering in my chest I ran into our tent and gripped Hermione's shoulders, shaking her.

"Get up! Ron— Harry— come on now, get up, this is urgent!" Mr Weasley yelled in the other tent.

"Hermione!" I shrieked, shaking her. She woke with a start and stared at me like I was mad.

"Something's wrong?" She mumbled.

"Yes," I said, moving over and smacking Ginny's cheek.

"Whazgoinon?" She snapped, sitting up.

"Everyone get a jacket and get outside quickly!" Mr Weasley yelled.

Hermione and Ginny both looked at my with wide eyes. I sprinted to our trunks and handed them sweaters, slipping on my shoes as they slipped on theirs. We ran to the outside of the tent and found that the boys were all making their way out. The only ones not there were Ron and Harry, who I could see coming from inside.

People were running everywhere, screaming in terror. There were wizards in robes and masks walking in packs and levitating people in the sky. Tents were crumpling and falling as the people ran through them to the woods nearby.

"That's sick," George murmured from beside me. "That is really sick..."

"We're going to help the Ministry!" Mr Weasley shouted, beckoning for Bill, Charlie, and Percy to follow him. "You lot— get into the woods and stick together. I'll come fetch you when we've sorted this out."

"C'mon," Fred said, grabbing Ginny's hand and beginning to pull her to forest.

George grabbed onto my arm and pulled me after him.

We bumped into so many people that we could hardly follow Fred and Ginny. The masked people were approaching quickly, and we didn't have much time to make it into the forest and to safety.

After what seemed like an eternity of running we reached the edge of the forest. Fred continued to jog, holding Ginny firmly. When we reached a secluded and dark area of the forest, I realized Harry, Ron, and Hermione were not with us.

"Oh my god," I cried, looking around wildly. "Harry? Harry?! Hermione! Ron! Oh my god—"

"Where the bloody hell did they go?" Fred asked, his face looking terrified. "They were just following us!"

"I'll summon them," I mumbled, my hands trembling. I concentrated and willed myself to summon them.

Nothing happened.

I tried again. Nothing.

"It's not working," I whispered, my hands beginning to shake violently now. "It's not working. Why— why isn't it—"

"You're too stressed to do anything," George said, rubbing my back. "Calm down, it's okay, they're going to be okay—"

"Hello?"

"Shh," Fred said, shoving Ginny down to sit on the ground and slowly looking around.

"You can't see in the dark," I said quietly. "Let me try something." I closed my eyes and concentrated. I'd never actually attempted to do a partial shape shift, such as just changing only one body part, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

When I opened my eyes I could see as clear as day.

From a bit away from us a figure was staggering our way— a familiar figure.

Cedric frickin Diggory. Again.

"It's Pretty Boy— I mean Cedric," I said, going over to where he was.

Cedric was holding his arm— which from what I could tell, was broken.

"Are you okay?" I asked, not caring what George might be thinking.

As he got nearer I noticed his face was bleeding.

"I'm fine," Cedric said, spitting out blood. "Your eyes— what's wrong with them?"

"They're cat eyes so I can see in the dark," I said. "What happened to you?"

"I got trampled," Cedric said. "The Death Eaters were right outside our tent..."

I heard Ginny whimper behind me.

Cedric sat down slowly, holding his arm. George was glaring daggers at him, muttering something under his breath.

"Where are your other siblings?" Cedric asked, noticing Hermione, Ron, and Harry weren't with us.

"We don't know," I said, wringing my hands together. "I don't know..."

"They'll be fine," Cedric said as soon as George opened his mouth to speak. "They're all together, and they're smart kids."

"I hope so," I said quietly, seeing George was making faces. Cedric looked awkwardly between George and I, as if expecting George to attack him.

" _MOSMORDRE_!"

The sky became illuminated in an eerie green light. The figure of a serpent slithering out of a skull was etched above with glittering stars, growing larger and larger. The instant it erupted, the surrounding area filled with screams again.

"Is that—?" Ginny squeaked.

"The Dark Mark," Cedric said slowly.

I began to hyperventilate again. Where the hell were Harry, Hermione, and Ron? Had they been anywhere near the caster of the spell? Were they even still alive?

We waited in silence and in fear for what seemed like forever until we heard—

"George! Fred!"

I whirled around to where the voices were coming from.

Running through the trees toward us were Bill, Charlie, and Percy. Bill's arm was bleeding like mad, Charlie's shirt was all ripped, and Percy appeared to have a broken nose.

"You're all hurt!" I cried. "What happened?"

"Had to fight a bit," Bill said. "You guys are all okay... er— who are you?"

"Cedric Diggory," I said as they all looked at Cedric. "His arm's broken."

"Oh I can fix that," Charlie said, kneeling down and pressing his wand to Cedric's arm. "I've gotten good at mending bones— this is going to hurt though."

He waved his wand and there was a loud snap. Cedric let out a loud grunt of pain.

"The Ministry officials headed to where the spell was conjured," Percy said. "It's safe for us to head back for the tent."

Bill wrapped his arm around Ginny and we all began heading back to the campsite. Cedric walked beside me, occasionally looking at me. George, noticing this, came over and snaked his arm around my waist, pulling me close. He was being so stupid!

We made it back to the tent safely, and only had to wait a bit for Harry, Hermione, and Ron to get back with Mr Weasley and Mr Diggory.

"Harry!" I cried, running to him and hugging him close to my chest. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said, although he was shaking. "You will not believe what happened..."

"Ced!" Mr Diggory said, going over to his son. "What happened to you?"

"The crowd trampled me for a bit," Cedric said. "But I found them... so I'm okay now."

Mr Diggory looked gratefully at us, then fixated his eyes on me. "Thank you."

"Er... you're welcome," I said awkwardly as he led Cedric out of the tent. Once they left, George relaxed.

We learned that some important man named Barty Crouch had to fire his house elf for being found near Harry's wand— which I might mention was the wand used to conjure the Dark Mark.

No one was really sure what had happened, and it worried me. Harry had said that Trelawney's prophecy last May had predicted the Dark Lord riding again. Dumbledore mentioned he'd be after me this time around. Something big was going on but no one knew what it was. All I knew was that everything was about to become much more dangerous for Harry and I.

But I couldn't even give myself time to think about my own safety. Because instead, I was preoccupied with figuring out what to do with George, who kept scowling and staring at me like I'd done something to offend him.


	33. Chapter 33

All the way up until September 1st came along, speaking to George was awkward. It didn't help when Mr Diggory poked his head into the fire that morning.

I came downstairs lugging my trunk behind me to find Mr Weasley taking notes while Mr Diggory spoke faster than I'd ever heard a person speak before.

"...Muggle neighbors heard bangs and shouting so they went and called those what d'you call em's— Please men. Arthur, you've got to get over there, it's a real stroke of luck I heard about it. I had to come into the office early to send a couple of owls and I found the Improper Use of Magic lot all setting off— if Rita Skeeter gets a hold of this one Arthur—"

"What does Mad Eye say happened?" Mr Weasley asked urgently.

"Says he heard an intruder in the yard," Mr Diggory said with a roll of his eyes. "Says he was creeping toward the house but was ambushed by his dustbins."

"What did the dustbins do?"

"Made one hell of a noise and fired rubbish everywhere, as far as I can tell," Mr Diggory sighed. "Apparently one of them was still rocketing around when the please men turned up—"

Mr Weasley groaned. "And what about the intruder?"

"Arthur, you know Mad Eye," Mr Diggory said, looking annoyed. "Someone creeping into his yard in the dead of night? More likely there's a very shell shocked cat wandering around somewhere covered in potato peelings. But if the Improper Use of Magic lot get their hands on Mad Eye, he's had it— think of his record— we've got to get him off on a minor charge, something in your department— what are exploding dustbins worth?"

"Might be a caution," Mr Weasley said. "Mad Eye didn't use his wand? He didn't actually attack anyone?"

"I'll bet he leapt out of bed and started jinxing everything he could reach through the window," Mr Diggory said. "But they'll have a job proving it, there aren't any casualties."

"All right, I'm off," Mr Weasley said, dashing out of the kitchen.

Mr Diggory looked at Mrs Weasley. "Sorry about this Molly... bothering you so early and everything, but Arthur's the only one who can get Mad Eye off and Mad Eye's supposed to be starting his new job today. Why he had to choose last night...."

That's when his eyes fixated on me. I made it look like I was about to leave the room but didn't succeed.

"Ah, Elizabeth!" Mr Diggory said happily, making me jump and stare at the fire with the fakest smile ever plastered on my face.

"Hello," I said, forcing myself to not look annoyed.

"Ready for Hogwarts today?" He asked.

"Yep!" I said, pretending to be adjusting the buttons on my coat.

"Cedric told me you're a level higher in Transfiguration and Potions," Mr Diggory said. "I do believe you'll have those two classes with him! That'll be nice, won't it?"

"Splendid," I said.

"I do think you two should become friends," Mr Diggory said. "You know, help each other out, and such."

"Perhaps we will," I said. This part I genuinely meant. I was now determined to at least not be annoyed every time I looked at Cedric, which meant becoming his friend. I think part of me also wanted to do it to spite George and show him he had no control over who I chose to be friends with, and make him realize that I could be trusted, and he was being stupid.

"Well, I'll be off then," Mr Diggory said with a very pleased face.

"Sure you won't have a bit of toast or anything before you go?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"Oh, go on then," Mr Diggory said.

Mrs Weasley took some buttered toast and using the fire tongs transferred it to Mr Diggory's mouth. He nodded in thanks and disappeared.

Mrs Weasley smiled to me. "Cedric is a lovely boy, Elizabeth, and very, very intelligent."

"I don't want to date him," I said, my cheeks turning scarlet. "We— we'll just be friends. Maybe."

Mrs Weasley simply smiled and headed back into the kitchen.

When I turned around to head to the breakfast table, I saw George had very intently been listening in to the entire conversation, and looked cross.

"So what's Mad Eye been up to?" Bill asked when Mrs Weasley brought out more toast.

"He says someone tried to break into his house last night," Mrs Weasley said.

"Mad Eye Moody?" Fred asked. "Isn't he that nutter—"

"Your father thinks very highly of Mad Eye Moody," Mrs Weasley said sternly.

"Well Dad collects plugs, doesn't he?" George said quietly as Mrs Weasley returned to the kitchen. "Bird of a feather..."

I let out a small laugh, which made George stop smiling and look at me. Harry raised his eyebrows.

"So what's going on?" He asked.

"Nothing," George said flatly.

"Doesn't look like nothing to me," Harry said matter of factly, which made Hermione look up in anticipation.

"He just doesn't want to admit he's a great jealous prick," I said.

"Jealous of WHO?" Charlie inquired.

"Cedric Diggory," Ginny and Hermione said in unison, making George scowl.

"What's the matter with him?" Percy asked. "What's George got to be jealous of?" This made Fred grin.

"You don't keep up with anything, do you, Perce?" Fred asked. "See here— Georgie and Bethie—"

"Please don't call me that," I hissed.

"—Georgie and Beth are dating. And Cedric fancied Beth last year— or so it seemed. And lately we've seen Cedric a lot so his presence and gentleman way around Beth makes George jealous."

"George is somehow paranoid I'm going to cheat or something," I snapped.

"Really?" Bill asked. "Come on George— Beth's kept everyone's secrets safer than they would've been in Gringotts. And she's a loyal person in general. It's BETH. She wouldn't do something like that."

George said nothing.

"So," Harry said hastily, trying to change the topic, "who even IS Mad Eye Moody?"

"Moody was a great wizard in his time," Bill said. "Bit of a nutter yes— proven with his friendship to Dumbledore and all, but great."

"He's retired, used to work at the Ministry," Charlie added. "I met him once when Dad took me to work with him. He was an Auror— one of the best... a Dark wizard catcher. Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him. He made himself loads of enemies though... the families of people he caught."

"Now he's paranoid," Bill said. "Doesn't tryst anyone anymore. Sees Dark wizards everywhere."

Harry nodded. I was grateful he'd changed the subject.

Bill and Charlie came to King's Cross Station to see us off. Percy, however, had to go to work, so he apologized profusely and left as we rode to the station in very uncomfortable Muggle taxis.

"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," Charlie said as he pulled Ginny and I into a hug.

"How come?" I asked curiously, pulling away just as the train whistle began to blow.

"You'll see," Charlie said with a mischievous grin worthy of the twins. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it. It's classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it, after all."

"Yeah, I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year," Bill said wistfully.

"Why?" George asked eagerly.

"You're going to have an interesting year," Bill said. "I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it... yes Beth I'm purposely not looking at you so you can't read my mind."

I scowled and made a face, which caused Bill to laugh.

"A bit of WHAT?" Ron inquired.

The whistle blew again and Mrs Weasley began to urge us onto the train.

I hugged her again. "Bye Mum—"

She stared at me and I stared at her. Her eyes began welling up with tears.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly, realizing that somehow I'd randomly called her Mum.

"Don't be silly," she said, wiping her eyes and hugging me again. "You're practically my daughter, Elizabeth. I don't mind... I just never heard you say it before."

I smiled and hugged her one last time before climbing onto the train after the twins.

"Mum can you tell us what Bill and Charlie are talking about?" Ron asked.

"You'll find out this evening, I expect," she said. "It's going to be very exciting— mind you, I'm very glad they changed the rules—"

"What rules?" The twins and I asked.

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will tell you... Now behave, won't you? Fred? George? Elizabeth?"

"Of course," I said, making Mrs Weasley beam again.

I was pulled into the train, and immediately shoved along the corridor by other students.

"So," Fred called after me, "I saw that."

"Saw what?"

"You called my mum 'Mum'," he said with a grin.

"I've just gotten so used to her being like a mother to me," I said. "I didn't want to call her that before because well... I remember my mum and all... but I guess somehow that feeling passed and I'd like to start calling your mum 'Mum' too."

"She'll be pleased," Fred said. George didn't even look at me.

The twins and I said goodbye to our siblings and went to our regular compartment, where we found a very sad looking Batavia sitting with Bixby, Katie, and Lee.

"What's the matter with her?" George asked.

"She misses her boyfriend," I said a bit snappishly. "Who, I'm very sure, doesn't get jealous of her having other friends that are boys."

"He doesn't," Batavia confirmed. "Oliver's very trusting. I'm glad too— I thought he might be unsure about us being apart a whole year but he knows I'm not going to betray him."

"You should learn from him," I said coldly to George.

"Did something happen between you two?" Bixby inquired, looking worried.

"Long story," Fred said. "Here's the condensed version. George is jealous of Cedric Diggory."

"Pretty Boy?" Lee asked. "Oh come on George, Beth hasn't ever fancied him."

"It's BETH we're talking about," Katie said. "She would never—"

"I know!" George hissed. "Bloody hell everyone keeps telling me the same thing."

"Because you keep being a jealous git!" I cried.

"Oh you should see the way you look at him," George said, rolling his eyes.

"I can WANT to be friends with him, okay?" I snarled. "You don't see me being jealous that you're always talking to Alicia."

"Because nothing's going on with her and I," George said.

"And nothing is going on between me and Cedric!" I shot back.

The compartment went silent.

"Who wants to play wizard's chess?" Fred asked nervously.

________

"I have only two words to say to you," Dumbledore said. "Tuck in!"

"Hear hear!" Harry and Ron said.

I was sitting with them and Hermione, Batavia and Bixby beside me. I didn't want to be anywhere near George at the moment.

"You're lucky there's a feast you know," Nearly Headless Nick said from the other side of me as I began to eat. "There was trouble in the kitchens earlier."

"Really?" I asked. "What happened?"

"Peeves," he sighed. "It was the usual argument- he wants to attend the feast but is so uncivilized! He can't look at a plate of food without having an urge to throw it- and he normally does. The Fat Friar wanted to give him a chance, but the Bloody Baron put his foot down."

"Well what did Peeves even do?" I asked. "I swear he gets more reckless every year..."

"Naturally," Nick said. "Pure mayhem. Pots and pans everywhere. Place swimming in soup. Terrified the house elves out of their wits—"

Hermione knocked over her goblet, making me jump. I summoned several napkins and threw them over the pool of juice.

"There are house elves HERE?" She asked incredulously. "In Hogwarts?"

"Certainly!" Nick said. "The largest number in any dwelling in Britain, I believe. Over a hundred."

"But I've never seen one!" Hermione gasped.

"The point is for us not to see them," I said, making Hermione gape at me.

"Do they get paid? Do they get holidays? Sick leave and pensions?" She spluttered.

Nick burst out laughing.

"They don't want those!" He said.

Hermione pushed her food away from her. I stared at her in disbelief, taking another forkful of food.

"Don't be silly Hermione," I said. "Eat— it's pheasant!"

"Slave labor," Hermione said. "That's what made this dinner. Slave labor."

She refused to even touch her plate the rest of the meal.

"So!" Dumbledore said after a short while, "Now that you are all fed and watered— I must ask for your attention."

Hermione led out a large huff, making me smirk.

"Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden in the castle has been extended. The whole list is about some 437 items— anyone may check it in Mr Filch's office.

"I would like to remind you again that the forest is out of bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year.

"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

"WHAT?" I cried along with a great majority of the Great Hall.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing for the rest of the school year. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts—"

I jumped as the doors of the Great Hall burst open.

"That's Mad Eye Moody," I said to Harry.

"May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher— Professor Moody."

Batavia and I clapped— and soon realized that besides Dumbledore and Hagrid, we were basically the only ones clapping.

"What happened to his face?" Hermione said.

"My father said he got that the same day he killed Evan Rosier, the Death Eater," Bixby said.

"As I way saying," Dumbledore continued. "We have the honor of hosting the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts this year."

"You're JOKING!" George said loudly from across the table. The whole Great Hall burst into laughter, except me. I was too cross to even think he was funny.

"I'm not joking Mr Weasley," Dumbledore said. "The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion from each represented their school and competed in three magical tasks. Over the years the schools all took turns hosting the event, and it was said to be an excellent way to establish ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities— until, well, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

"Death toll?" Hermione squeaked.

"Yep," I said. "The stats are unbelievable..."

She gulped.

"We have worked hard this summer to ensure no champion will find themselves in mortal danger. The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short listed contenders in October, and the selection of three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

"I'm going for it!" Fred said excitedly. He waved at me from across the table and I nodded, putting my thumb up in the air. I was down to enter if he was.

"We do have an age restriction though," Dumbledore said. "Only students of age— older than seventeen, that is— may put in their names."

Fred and I both let out loud groans and booed along with a couple of other students.

"This is a necessary measure," Dumbledore continued, smiling slightly at our reaction. "The tournament's tasks will still be dangerous and difficult. Students under sixth and seventh year will be unlikely to be able to cope with them.

I will personally be ensuring that no underage students hoodwink out impartial judge to make them a Hogwarts champion. I beg you, therefore, not to waste time in attempts to submit yourself if you find yourself to be under seventeen. And now, it is late. You must all be alert and rested for your lessons tomorrow- Bedtime! Chop chop!"

I got up and immediately hurried over to Fred and Angelina, who were discussing entering the tournament.

"I'm turning seventeen really soon!" Angelina said excitedly. "I know I'm dropping my name in!"

"Lucky," I said. "I'm not turning seventeen til a year from now."

"Sucks to be a baby, doesn't it?" Fred asked with a devilish grin.

"Oh shut up, YOU aren't old enough either," I said.

"Ah, that hurt," Fred said. I looked at him and realized George had begun walking beside him.

"What do you say, Freddie?" George asked, completely ignoring my presence. "I reckon a couple drops of Aging Potion ought to do the trick."

"Dumbledore knows you two aren't of age," Angelina said with a laugh. "It's hopeless."

"Well he doesn't decide who the champion is," Fred said. "If my name gets called... well I'll have to compete, won't I?"

"Have fun dealing with the tasks those blokes come up with," I said. "I've read tons of books about past tournaments— the crap they come up with is no easy thing."

"The hardest thing they could do would be to make me look for a needle in a haystack without a wand," Fred said.

"And to make t hard that haystack would be the size of Scotland," Angelina said with a giggle.

"It's no fair you get to enter," I sighed. "I want to do something like this— something really, really fun. For once in my life."

"You hardly have any fun," Fred agreed. "Can't go to Hogsmeade, always have to deal with some sort of You Know Who encounter— your life sucks."

"Which is why I'd like to enter the tournament!" I said happily. "I know how I'd get mine in too— I think I'd turn into a bird and go drop it in, since bird ages are not only different but also it would probably get past any sort of spell he puts to keep those under seventeen out."

"Not a bad idea," Fred said, making George look at me. Then he scowled. "Oh for the love of Merlin can you two stop sneering at each other and just TALK IT OUT? I feel like I'm surrounded by two skinny blond gits whose name is Malfoy."

"Oh that's a low blow," I said. "And HE'S the one who won't talk to me."

Fred stopped midway through the hallway and gripped George's shoulders. He shoved him my way and began to walk away, leading Angelina by the hand.

"Say something," I prompted. "Anything. You keep refusing to speak."

"Is it really wrong for me to be jealous?" George asked. "Am I not allowed to, or something?"

"Oh no," I said. "You're allowed to feel however the bloody hell you want to feel. The problem is why you feel that way. What makes you even think I would put myself in a position to potentially lose you? I waited for you for SO LONG, George. And yes— on that subject, I could've made a move too, but regardless— I was patient. Patient for YOU. Dedicated to waiting for YOU. If that doesn't show you that I care then I don't know what to say."

"That's why you were so nice and blushy around Diggory, then?" George asked harshly.

"OF COURSE I was nice!" I shrieked. "He saved me from falling on the floor— who CARES why he did it, as a person who was raised by good, caring people, I'm going to be nice and appreciate that he was considerate. How can you even—"

"In the forest," George cut in. "You were all concerned for him—"

"His bloody arm was broken, are you blind?" I hissed. "You were intact— you were just fine— he got TRAMPLED! Trampled! Am I supposed to be apathetic and just sit back and say 'oh, sucks to be you' and let him suffer? No! Because when someone is hurt you help them!"

"Well you do it a lot more with Diggory—"

"You're overthinking so, so, SO much!" I cried. "You're jumping to conclusions that aren't even— that don't even make any sense! I don't fancy Cedric! I never did! I chose to not be friends with him last year because I was not over you and because I wasn't wanting to think about any other guys because I wanted YOU. But now I have you, which means I can stop worrying about someone else getting in the way of my feelings for you and just have a friendship with them!"

"You just said it yourself!" George yelled. "That someone else— that being Cedric in this situation— would get in the way of your feelings for me! What the hell does that mean, then?"

"I was furious at you!" I hissed. "But I still fancied you! And I knew that if I started talking to Cedric, who appeared to fancy me at the time, I would end up flinging myself into a relationship with him to get over YOU because YOU were being a prat! And now you're my boyfriend, so I don't need any reason to get over you, therefore now I can pursue a friendship with a guy who just wants to be nice to me!"

George looked like he wanted to say something else but he just held his hands up in surrender.

"Fine," he said, shaking his head. "Fine. I'm sorry, if that's what you want me to say. I'm sorry for being jealous and implying I didn't trust you not to cheat on me. Happy?"

"Far from it," I said bitterly. "But that's a start."

George reluctantly took my hand as I offered it to him and walked beside me to the Gryffindor Common Room. We didn't say anything. I didn't feel we had to. I thought George had sincerely apologized. I had no way of knowing his feelings were still bottled up inside.

"I told your dad about us," I said as we reached the Fat Lady's portrait.

"You what?" He asked, glaring at me.

"He asked if you and Fred had girlfriends," I said. "I said yes. Eventually I told him you and I were dating. He's fine with it."

"Why didn't you ask me?" George asked, his eyes stormy.

"It was at the World Cup right before we had to run into the woods," I said. "You weren't awake. Besides— I couldn't stand keeping it a secret. I don't like this whole sneaking around at your parents' house. They're my family too, George, and I think I'd like to tell my parents I'm in a relationship."

"So now apparently you're the most honest person to ever walk the planet," George scoffed. "You, the Golden Girl, you always tell the truth and you're ever so loyal, or so you say—"

"You're being so ridiculous!" I hissed. "I like being honest, you know I only lie when I have to! Oh god can we PLEASE not start this again you're being absurd—"

"Fine," George said, rolling his eyes. "Whatever. Goodnight."

He leaned forward and gave me a really stiff, forced kiss on the lips. Then he darted up the boys' staircase without another word.

I turned, furious, to see Harry was sitting on the couch, apparently waiting for me.

"Fred said you and George had stayed behind to argue," he said. "I waited."

I sighed loudly and went to sit beside him, leaning on his shoulder."

"You're my sister," Harry said. "Seeing you getting hurt by someone else like that hurts me. I don't understand how he can accuse you of all people of cheating and I don't understand why he's mad that you felt the need to not be secretive with his parents. He can't keep treating you like that. Fred and Ron are sick of it and so am I. Beth... if he doesn't stop that soon I'm going to ask that you stop dating him."

I pursed my lips and looked at Harry. What could I even say to that?

"Fine," I said, nodding. "If he doesn't cut the crap then I'll break up with him."


	34. Chapter 34

"What do you reckon he's going to teach us?"

"How to enchant dustbins, probably."

Batavia snickered at my comment. When I half smiled to her, she became serious.

"What's the matter?" She asked.

"George is being outright stupid," I said, feeling my chest tighten. "Still jealous of Cedric even though he claims he isn't. And now he's mad that I told his father about us."

"Oh he's just being possessive at this point," Batavia said furiously.

"What I want to know is why he's doing this in the first place," I said. "Fred says he's insecure but..."

"That could be it," Batavia said. "To a greater extent of course. I mean... you said that when George asked you out he did mention how he thought you deserved better, a guy with goals and stuff, someone who wouldn't be getting you in trouble. So maybe he's jealous because he feels Cedric is a better guy for you and that you could fall for him because he has ambitions and a knack for following the rules."

"Oh please," I said. "Does George actually know me or not? Why would I choose to date a goody goody? And besides— That's no excuse for him accusing me of something I would never do."

"Well my other theory," Batavia continued, "is that if he's jealous... he's cheating."

"I sincerely doubt that, Batavia," I said. "It's George."

"Well if he can say you're cheating then you can accuse him," Batavia said fiercely.

"I'm not going to sink to his level," I said, which made her shrug.

"Harry's right though," I added after she took her books out. "If he doesn't stop acting like this then the best thing I can do for myself is to break up with him."

"Exactly," Batavia said. "Harry's smart— acting a little too much like the older sibling but who cares. He's not wrong. You need to be selfish now. You can't let him hurt you like that."

"I won't," I said. "Believe me I won't."

The door flew open and Mad Eye Moody hobbled in, making us all go silent. He pulled out a scroll and glanced at it, then at the class.

"Right then," he began. "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures- you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?"

I nodded along with the rest of the class.

Moody stomped his foot down, and his cane thumped on the floor.

"But you're behind on dealing with curses," Moody said. "So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark Arts."

I raised my hand.

"Yes?" He asked.

"So you only plan on staying a year?" I asked.

"Special favor to Dumbledore," Moody confirmed. "Your name?"

"Elizabeth Potter," I said.

Moody stared at me curiously and nodded. "So— straight to it, then. Curses. The Ministry says I'm just supposed to teach you countercurses and not show you what Dark curses look like til sixth year, but I disagree. You're only a year away from that, what harm can it do? How do they expect you to defend yourself against something you've never seen?"

Batavia nodded her head vigorously.

"So, do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?" Moody asked.

Batavia and Bixby's hands went straight up. Their father, Mr Hoganson, had made it his job to educate them on every type of hex and curse known to wizard kind. They probably knew more about it than the entire seventh year population.

"Yes, Miss?" Moody asked.

"The Imperius Curse," Batavia said.

"And you are—?"

"Batavia Hoganson," she replied.

"Ah yes you would know about that," Moody said. "Your father is the reason we teach Aurors to fight that curse."

Batavia turned scarlet. She and Bixby both hated whenever their father was mentioned— he'd been a very important asset to the Ministry in terms of helping them improve their Auror programs. They called him Auror God because he created the most recent curriculum for Aurors. He's the reason that Aurors are trained so well over the course of three years.

Moody rolled up his sleeve and reached into one of the jars on his desk, taking out a spider.

"Imperio!" He said.

The spider began to float and swing around in the air. It flipped in the air and landed right in front of Bixby, cartwheeling.

"Awesome," Bixby marveled, patting the spider's head.

"Years back there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," Moody lectured as he made the spider do all sorts of tricks across the room. "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act and who was acting on their free will.

"The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it," Moody said. "Better avoid being hit with it if you can— CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

The entire class jumped when he barked the last bit out.

"Anyone else know one?" He asked, making the spider stand still. "Another illegal curse?"

Katie raised her hand.

"The Torture Curse," she said. "I can't remember its name..."

"It's called the Cruciatus Curse," Moody said. "Observe."

He waved his wand, making the spider become considerably bigger. It was the size of the palm of his hand now, large enough for us to see from a distance.

"Crucio!" He muttered.

The spider let out a high pitched wail of pure pain. It began twitching uncontrollably, its legs bent at odd angles. The classroom was completely silent, everyone staring in horror at the spider.

Then Moody let it rest. I was finally able to breathe.

"Pain," he said, looking around at us, "you don't need thumscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform a Cruciatus Curse....that one was very popular once too....anyone know any others?"

No one wanted to raise their hand. Everyone knew the last one.

"Miss Potter?" Moody inquired.

"The Killing Curse," I said, staring up at him.

He looked me in the eyes with his mechanical one. My gut feeling told me to give reading his mind a shot.

Pain. I winced. He noticed. He didn't say anything about it.

I hadn't been able to read his mind.

I didn't want to judge him so quickly but this had only ever happened to me once before. With Quirrel. And Quirrel had turned out to be hosting Voldemort on the back of his head.

Moody brought the spider over and set it on my desk. I looked up at him suspiciously. He pulled out his wand.

For a solid second it was pointed right at my forehead. Then it was lowered to the spider.

"Avada Kedavra!" Moody said.

I felt my throat tighten as the green light terminated the spider's life.

The entire class was staring at me in disbelief. Batavia looked about ready to stand up and slap Moody.

He simply flicked the spider to the floor.

"Not nice, not pleasant, no countercurse," Moody said. "Only one known person has ever survived it, and his sister is sitting right in front of me."

If anyone hadn't already been staring at me, they were now."

"Avada Kedavra is a curse that needs a poweful bit of magic behind it," Moody continued. "You can point your wands at me and say it— but you won't get more than a nosebleed. You've got to know about this curse, even if there isn't a countercurse. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

I glanced up at Moody, who was breathing just as heavily as me. He looked at me curiously.

"The triad of Illegal curses are called the Unforgivable Curses," Moody said. "The use of any of them will earn you a life sentence in Azkaban, although many have been able to escape that."

He looked at me again.

"Class dismissed," Moody said quietly, walking back out the door.

"Beth, are you okay?" Batavia asked as the rest of the class gathered their things.

"I'm fine," I said. "It— well, it was horrible really but I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Batavia asked.

"Yes."

"Miss Potter?" Moody called.

"See you later," I said, waving to Batavia.

I walked up to his desk, his mechanical eye watching my progress.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I apologize for that," Moody said. "For placing the spider in front of you. I simply assumed you'd be less shaken up by it. You're not as weak as your classmates, Miss Potter. Having witnessed that curse makes you stronger than all of them. Anyone else would have begun sobbing if I placed it on their desk."

I nodded, looking up at him. He narrowed his good eye.

"You don't trust me, do you?" He said.

"I've had an issue with trust lately," I muttered.

"Being cautious is good, Miss Potter," he said. "You could make an excellent Auror someday."

"Is it difficult?" I asked. "Becoming an Auror?"

"Fairly, yes," Moody said. "But I'm sure you could complete the program with ease."

I nodded, shifting my weight awkwardly.

"You can't read an Auror's mind," Moody said abruptly.

"What?" I spluttered.

"You tried to read my mind," he said. "All Aurors train in Legilimency and Occlumency for at least six months. There are rare circumstances where you'll find an Auror whose mind is accessible. It is in fact thanks to Miss Hoganson's father that that is taught to the department."

"Oh," I said, feeling a sense of relief. "So I really can't read the mind of an Occlumens."

"You can't read the mind of someone who is both an Occlumens and a Legilimens, is my theory," Moody said. "Dumbledore told me all about Quirrel. He knew both. I suspect if you tried to read... say... Professor Sprout's mind, you'd be able to, since she only knows Occlumency."

"That's useful information," I said.

"Dumbledore has discussed your powers quite a bit with me, in fact," Moody continued. "I also have a theory that if you learned both Legilimency— real, magically based mind reading— and Occlumency, you'd be able to search through people's minds with only looking them in the eye rather than casting a spell."

"Really?" I said in disbelief.

"A theory of mine," Moody repeated. "But very possible. I could teach you both if you'd like."

"I'll consider it," I said, smiling at him, and coming to a sense of respect for him.

"Always better to understand as much about your powers as possible," Moody said. "You'll find it very useful..... Very well then, Miss Potter."

I nodded and picked up my things.

I went straight to Potions afterward. Snape wasn't too happy when he walked into class— in fact, he looked beyond angry. I dunno why.

"I see you have managed to scrape an Outstanding on your OWL for Potions," He drawled. "You are now in NEWT Potions. I especially don't tolerate mediocre work in this class, and I will not put up with your complaints. You are in this class to work, not to make friends."

I looked across the table at George, who had also shot me a glance. Behind him sat Cedric, who looked deep in thought.

"You will be assigned partners for this class," Snape continued. "In the past I have allowed you to work with whomsoever you pleased, however this will no longer be the case. You will remain with your assigned partner all the way until you complete the NEWT exam next year. You will not complain. I don't care what problems you have with each other. You will work together because I say you will work together. Now listen for your names."

I shifted nervously in my seat as he began to call names.

"Megan Abernathy and Cyrus Vance."

Not me.

"Wendell Brockwhurst and Benjamin Yang."

That was a bad pair. Wendell was a sixth year Ravenclaw who was known for being absolutely intolerable to work with. Benjamin was an obnoxious Gryffindor who didn't know how to use any sort of filter. Good luck to them both.

"Cedric Diggory and Elizabeth Potter."

What in Merlin's beard were the bloody odds? Of course!

I walked past George, not looking at him, as I went to sit beside Cedric.

"Hello," he said pleasantly.

"Hi," I said.

Something wrong?" He inquired.

"Just Moody's class," I mumbled. "It's nothing."

"Ah, we had him yesterday," Cedric said. "Bloody morbid but very eye opening."

"He said I might make a good Auror someday," I said. "I might consider it. What do you want to be?"

"A Healer," Cedric said. "If not a Healer then a Professor."

"That's interesting," I said. "You look like you'd work in foreign affairs."

"It's because I carry my folder in my hand, isn't it?" He asked with a short laugh.

"Yeah, probably," I said with a grin.

I caught George looking at me from the side of the room and concentrated on sending him a message.

" _I still love you, whether you believe me or not. Let me have my friends and I'll let you have yours_."

George rolled his eyes and thought back " _Whatever. Sure_."

Git.

After Potions was over I headed out to the entrance hall, where I found Harry, Ron, and Hermione chatting by the doors of the Great Hall.

"Hello," I said happily. "How was your second day back?"

"Brilliant," Hermione sighed. "Arithmancy is great. Professor Vector—"

"Weasley! Hey Weasley!"

We all turned and saw none other than Draco Malfoy coming our way, gracing us with Crabbe and Goyle's presence as well. From behind him, Fred and George were making their way towards us as well.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" Malfoy said, shoving an article in Ron's face. I snatched it from him and looked it over.

"Careful with those half blood hands, Potter," Malfoy sneered. "And there's a picture, Weasley! A picture of your parents outside their house— if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

"Get stuffed, Malfoy!" Ron said, lunging at Draco. Harry and Hermione pulled him back.

I stepped up, staring up at Malfoy. "It'd be wise for you to leave right now."

"Or what?" Malfoy snapped. "You'll tell me if his mother really is that porky or if it's just in the picture?"

George lunged forward and held me back as I made for punching Malfoy.

"That's— my— mother— he's— insulting— too!" I snarled, straining against George's force.

"Calm down, Beth, his prat arse isn't worth it," George said, although he looked furious.

"You know YOUR mother, Malfoy?" Harry sneered, stepping forward. "That expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that or was it just because you were with her?"

Malfoy's expression became dark.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter," spat Malfoy.

"Keep your fat mouth shut then," Harry said, turning and walking away.

Malfoy whipped out his wand, which I summoned straight into my hand and pointed at him, making the bystanders make sounds of amusement.

"You've got to be quicker than that," I hissed, stepping forward.

"OH NO YOU DON'T LADDIE!" A voice roared.

Mad Eye Moody limped down the staircase and came closer in such little time I wondered if his leg was actually bad or if he put it on for show.

Just as he came close he waved his wand. For a moment I didn't see anything change until—

"Is that Malfoy?" George snickered.

The white ferret on the floor before me squeaked and began to run towards the dungeons and Moody closed the distance between us.

"I don't think so!" He cried, waving his wand. This made the ferret bounce up and down. I watched its progress through the air, stifling back a snort-laugh.

"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned," Moody said. "Stinking— cowardly— scrummy thing to do. Never do that again!"

The ferret squeaked loudly, flailing all its limbs helplessly.

"Professor Moody!" Professor McGonagall cried, coming over with loads of books in her hand.

"Hello," Moody said, making Malfoy go even higher.

"What are you doing?" McGonagall demanded.

"Teaching!" Moody said enthusiastically, making the ferret spin in the air.

"Is that a student?" McGonagall cried, dropping all her books on the floor.

"Yep," Moody said.

McGonagall's face went pale and she waved her wand, leading to Malfoy appearing on the ground, shivering and looking humiliated.

"How did you like that, Malfoy?" I said with a malicious grin.

He stared at me, his eyes bloodshot.

"We never use Transfiguration as a punishment!" McGonagall scolded Moody. "Dumbledore surely told you!"

"He might've mentioned it," Moody said.

"You either give detentions or speak to the Heads of House!" McGonagall cried indignantly.

"I'll do that then," Moody said reassuringly.

Malfoy stood up, staring furiously at Moody, tears of pain and humiliation filling his eyes.

"My father will hear about this," he sneered.

"Oh yeah?" Moody asked. "Well I know your father of old, boy. You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son... Your Head of House will be Snape, right, Mr Malfoy?"

"Yes," Malfoy spat coldly.

Moody came forward and gripped Malfoy's arm, leading him away.

Professor McGonagall huffed loudly, and waved her wand to make the books fly back into her arms.

Harry was covering his mouth to hide the fact he was still laughing.

"Don't talk to me," Ron said, as Hermione, Harry, Fred, George, and I began to walk back to the Great Hall.

"Me neither," Fred said happily. "I want to fix that in my memory forever!"

"Draco Malfoy, the amazing, bouncing ferret," Ron sighed.

George and I both snorted with laughter. We looked at each other and frowned.

"Can this please stop?" I hissed. "I'm sick of this. I'm sick of not talking to you. Stop being so jealous."

George took a deep breath and let out a forced smile. "Okay. I'm sorry."

I nodded, seeing Hermione ate very quickly, then left without warning when she was done.

"What could possibly be so important that she needs to abandon us?" Harry asked.

"Homework, perhaps," I sighed. "She likes it more than any of us do."

Just then, Lee Jordan sat across from us.

"How about Moody's lesson, Beth?" He asked with a smirk.

"It was interesting," I said. "A bit terrifying but interesting."

"Who did he do the final curse in front of?" Lee asked in a whisper.

"Me," I mumbled.

George and Lee stared at me in disbelief.

"He killed the spider in front of YOU?" George hissed in such a low whisper that Harry wouldn't hear.

"Yep," I said. "Said because I'd seen it before and wouldn't freak out."

"Well that could have backfired," Lee said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said with a small smile. George slowly rubbed my back and I gulped. 

"So what's Moody like?" Harry asked.

"Moody is incredible," Lee said.

"What was it like?" Harry asked.

"Never had a lesson like it!" Fred said from nearby as he scooted to sit beside Angelina.

"He KNOWS, man," Lee said.

"Knows what?" Ron asked.

"What it's like to be out there actually DOING it," George said.

"Doing what?" Harry asked.

"Fighting the Dark Arts," I said.

"Bummer!" Ron said angrily. "We haven't got him til Thursday!"

"I say it's worth the wait," George said, looking at me with a genuine smile for the first time in awhile.


	35. Chapter 35

September passed in a blur. To be honest, I didn't pay attention to many of the details behind it.

For one, there was no Quidditch. There was nothing for me to do after class except socialize with my peers and attempt to do the incredibly difficult homework I now had. Every class except Potions and Transfiguration had upped the amount of homework we had because it was our OWL year. Then of course, Potions and Transfiguration weren't easy either— they were rightfully named NEWT classes.

Another thing, the anticipation of the upcoming tournament made me think of everything but what happened in my day to day life. Both sets of twins and I were planning clever ways to get our names in for the tournament. I'd researched endlessly, and found out the judge of who got chosen was a so called Goblet of Fire, which was basically just a fancy mug that spewed fire and had some sort of wisdom to it.

To clarify that— yes, both sets of twins.

George and I had slowly been getting back in our usual routine. He was still uncertain about Cedric's presence in two of my classes, but he was no longer voicing his distaste, which was good for me. We still hadn't kissed or snogged yet, but were hugging a considerable amount and talking like civil beings, which I suppose is something.

One night I was sitting in the Common Room, George resting his head on my shoulder as I wrote an essay, when Hermione came over and set down a box on the table, staring at me then at Ron and Harry, who were beside me.

"What's that?" I asked.

She took off the lid and I raised my eyebrows.

There were about fifty badges inside, quite shiny and colorful, with the letters "S.P.E.W." On it.

"What's spew?" I asked, making George sigh in his sleep and make himself comfortable on my lap.

"Not SPEW," Hermione said. "S-P-E-W. Stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

"So... spew," I repeated.

"I've never heard of it," Ron said bluntly.

"Well of course not, I've only just started it," Hermione said.

"How many members are there?" Ron asked. At this George let out a small whine and shifted around again.

"Five if you four join," Hermione said.

There was a beat of silence when Harry, Ron, and I looked at each other.

"And you think we want to walk around wearing badges saying spew, do you?" Ron said.

"S-P-E-W!" Hermione hissed, grabbing a badge and tossing it onto my lap. It hit George on the head and made him sit up abruptly, looking wildly around the room.

"What happened?" He asked groggily.

"Hermione hit you with her spew badge," I said. "Society for Promotion of Elfish Welfare or some shit..."

"I was going to put Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in their Legal Status," Hermione said. "But it wouldn't fit."

"Obviously not," George groaned, rubbing his eyes and looking at the little badge.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I've been researching it thoroughly in the library. Elf enslavement goes back centuries. I can't believe no one's done anything about it before now—"

"Hermione they don't want to be freed," George said, yawning. "It's their purpose— they LIKE being enslaved—"

"—Our short term aims," she continued, as if she hadn't heard George, "are to secure them wages and working conditions. Long term is to change laws about non wand use and get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, because they're shockingly underrepresented."

"Hermione," I said, "you know a group like this is going to be useless if the house elves aren't okay with it, right? And trust me, they won't be."

"We need to start by recruiting members, first and foremost," Hermione said, shooting me a nasty glare. "Two Sickles for a badge, and can help fund our leaflet campaign. Ron— you can be treasurer. Harry, secretary. George and Beth are just members."

George looked at me and shrugged, handing Hermione two Sickles. Gritting my teeth and internally rolling my eyes I slapped two Sickles into her hand, which made her smirk triumphantly.

"Your cooperation is very much appreciated," she said cheerily.

"Gee I feel special," I said, which made George grin.

He sat up and looked at me, brushing hair out of my face.

"You are special," he said.

I knew he meant it even though there was a strain in his voice, and he was grimacing.

"And so are you," I said, holding his face in my hands. "You are special. You're funny. You're generous. You're intelligent. You're talented. Athletic. Kind. Thoughtful. Sweet. Incredible. I fell in love with YOU and no one else."

He held onto my wrists and his lips trembled. I didn't want to be angry at him anymore.

"I would never, ever cheat on you," I whispered. "I'd be an idiot to do that. Because I'd lose you. You don't have to worry."

In response he pressed his lips onto mine, which earned a collective groan from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and a big smile from me.

________

"So your scar hurt over the summer and you told EVERYONE except me?" I demanded, holding Sirius' letter in my hands. Hedwig had dropped it onto my plate at breakfast, and recognizing Sirius' writing I'd torn it open only to find out that Harry had owled him awhile back to tell him about a strange dream and pain in his lightning bolt shaped scar.

"I didn't want to worry you," Harry said. "And— and now Sirius is worried so... maybe I just imagined it."

"You don't just IMAGINE pain," I said. "You felt some sort of pain and chose to keep it to yourself— Harry I want to know these things!"

"Well fine, whatever, I felt pain," Harry said. "But I am telling Sirius I imagined it."

"He won't fall for that!" I cried.

"Well he's not going to go back to Azkaban because of me," Harry said. "So as far as I'm concerned, I imagined it."

Hermione was going to argue something, but Ron hissed for her to 'Drop it.'

Scowling, I picked up my books and began heading over to the entrance hall, where Bixby and Katie were waiting for Batavia and I to finish eating.

"Batavia's still eating?" Bixby whined.

"She's stress eating," I said. "A lot. She gets worried being away from Oliver."

"Later she'll be blaming him if she gets fat," Bixby said. "Ah damn it...."

"She's not going to get fat," Katie said. "We'll stop her from eating so much."

"Good luck with that," Bixby scoffed, shaking his head vigorously. "She's going to just hurt herself...."

"Are you okay?" I inquired.

"No," Bixby said. "My father— my father sent me a letter saying Moody's been talking to him and apparently is going to start teaching us what some curses feel like. I don't want— I can't see—"

"It'll probably just be the Imperius Curse, if anything," Katie said soothingly, rubbing his back. "We'll be fine."

"I'm still worried about her," Bixby sighed. "She's fragile right now. To think this started with her having a stupid crush on the guy— she's gotten much too attached."

"She'll be okay," I said. "She's strong."

Bixby shrugged. Batavia came running to join us at that moment, and we all began to head to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Bixby had been right. Right as class began, Moody announced he'd be putting the Imperius Curse on us to see if we could resist it.

"Dumbledore wants you to be taught what it feels like," Moody said. "Trust me, you'll want to know what it feels like rather than learn it the hard way— when someone's putting it on you to control you completely."

We all nodded in agreement, although we were all worried.

I felt even more nervous as Moody started putting the curse on other students. He made Bixby imitate a monkey, which was very funny to Katie until she ended up pirouetting all over the place. It took awhile for Batavia to get induced, which was a good sign according to Moody. She still ended up holding a handstand while singing a Celestina Warbeck song for five minutes.

"You need to try harder," Moody growled as Leanne, Katie's best friend, stepped off the desk she'd been tap dancing on in shame. "Only Ms Hoganson has showed any signs of trying to resist the curse. Be stronger! Potter, come over here."

I trotted up to his desk, wringing my hands together.

"You nervous?" He asked.

"Kind of," I said, wondering what he might make me do.

"Don't be," He said. "Imperio!"

I felt something inside me— a certain sharp pain in my abdomen. Then suddenly it disappeared, and I looked up at Moody expectantly.

"Well?" He inquired.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked.

The entire class was staring at me now.

"You didn't hear instructions in your head?" He asked. "No voice telling you what to do?"

"Nope," I said. "I felt a pain in my abdomen then... nothing."

Moody's lips curled into a smile. "Very, very interesting. Perhaps your powers make you immune to the effects of the curse."

"So you're saying the Imperius Curse wouldn't do anything to me at all?" I asked, blinking at him.

"From what it seems, yes," he said. "You may sit down, Miss Potter."

Batavia was staring at me wide eyed as I sat down.

"Do you know how cool that is?" She shrieked. "You're— the curse— it doesn't work on you!"

"I suppose that's a good thing right?" I asked.

"Yes it is!" Batavia said. "Don't you think so?"

"Well it only means I'm less normal than I already was," I said with a grin.

From there I bid Batavia adieu and headed over to Transfiguration. Fred was sitting in his usual seat beside Angelina in the back row. In front of him was my empty seat, and in the seat next to it was Cedric.

Friendly reminder— George didn't pass his Transfiguration OWL. This is the one class I don't have to deal with him glaring daggers at Cedric.

"Hi Beth," Cedric said, smiling.

"Hiya," I said cheerfully.

"Remember before you said only your friends could call you Beth?" Cedric asked.

"Yeah," I said, raising my eyebrow.

"Well you didn't scold me so I assume we... we're friends?"

"Of course," I said, making him smile.

By the time dinner had arrived, I was positively exhausted. We'd taken so many notes in Transfiguration and so many in History of Magic immediately afterwards that it felt like my hand was going to fall off. Then in Herbology we'd spent the entire time treating tree trunks by the edge of the Forbidden Forest to observe different types of fungi in action and let me just say I feel like a statue from how stiff I am.

I arrived at the entrance hall and found that a large crowd of people had gathered outside.

"What are we looking at?" I asked a tall girl standing near me.

"I'll read it off for you," she said, tiptoeing slightly. "TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT— The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o'clock on Friday the 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early. Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast."

"Oh!" I said. "Thank you!"

She nodded and I scurried to the Great Hall, where I found George and Alicia chatting at the Gryffindor table.

Me, not being a jealous person, didn't say anything, and merely sat down next to George and grinned.

"Did you see the sign?" He asked.

"You bet I did," I said. Then I frowned. "Well I didn't, someone read off what it said to me."

George smirked. "Too short?"

"Shut up," I said, taking a bowl of soup and beginning to eat.

"I wonder who all is entering," Alicia said, looking excited. "I know Angelina is."

"Cassius Warrington is," Lee said from down the table were he had just finished flirting with a Gryffindor girl. "The Slytherin bloke."

"Ugh he's an arse," I said. "Oh! Cedric's doing it— he's old enough."

George got tense. I said nothing, and instead turned back to my soup.

When Friday came, the castle was unrecognizable. It was very nicely decorated and so clean I almost didn't feel like it was Hogwarts.

It should have been a really happy day, but it wasn't. Fred and George were annoyed that Ludo Bagman hadn't returned their letters. They'd been cheated by him— the money from the bet had been leprechaun gold, and had vanished the next morning.

"It's a bummer," George said sadly. "We'll have to send him another letter...or stuff it in his hand...he can't avoid us forever."

"Who's avoiding you?" Ron asked, coming over with Harry and Hermione and sitting beside Fred.

"Wish you would," Fred said.

"What's a bummer?" Ron asked George.

"Having a noisy git like you for a brother," George exasperated.

Ron mumbled some curses under his breath.

A loud screech from above let me know the post was here. Hedwig fluttered in, looking so tired I was afraid she might fall asleep. She landed right in front of Harry and I, and shook her leg to give him a letter.

It was from Sirius, saying he was still going to come check up on Harry. He also advised him to be switching owls.

"Why d'you have to change owls?" Ron asked.

"Well Hedwig does stand out quite a bit," I said. Harry shoved the letter in his pocket.

Awhile after we went outside in order to wait for Beauxbatons and Durmstrang to arrive.

Beuxbatons got there first. They came in a gorgeous carriage pulled by large golden horses. Show offs.

Their Headmistress was an enormous woman. When Hagrid was called over to take the horses I noticed he kept staring at her. Oh dear.

"How big d'you reckon Durmstrang's horses are going to be?" George asked, putting his arm around me.

"I bet they'll arrive on something grander," I said. "A rhinoceros maybe."

"Do they have those in Bulgaria?" George asked.

"Probably not," I said. At this he leaned over and kissed my cheek softly, making my skin tingle.

Durmstrang ended up arriving in a massive ship that was probably made out of all the wood in a five acre forest. It was really nice, but seemed like a bit much.

Ron was surprised to learn that Viktor Krum was still a student at Durmstrang. George reckons he has a crush on him.

"Good evening!" Dumbledore began, drawing our attention to the front. "I have the great pleasure of welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable. The tournament will officially be opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

"What's that?" Ron asked, pointing at a shellfish stew that had appeared in front of me.

"Bouillabaisse," Hermione said.

"Bless you," I said, making George snicker.

"It's quite good, you'll like it," Hermione assured me, already helping herself to a plate.

Ron did not finish all the bouillabaisse he'd served himself. He was contemplating what to do with his plate when a very gorgeous girl came up to or table.

She must have been a veela and must have switched her charm on because all the boys at our table were staring at her with wide eyes and open mouths— even George, much to my distaste.

"Excuse me. Are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?" The girl asked.

Ron nodded in silence and handed her the plate— gaping at her like he had never seen a more beautiful girl in the whole world.

"Thank you!" She chirped, heading to the Ravenclaw table, her long silver blonde hair flowing to her hips and swaying as she walked.

"Bloody hell," Ron sighed. "They don't make them like that at Hogwarts!"

"They make them ok at Hogwarts," Harry mumbled, looking past Hermione to the Ravenclaw table. I noticed he was looking at an Asian girl sitting by the veela girl. I smirked. My little brother must have a crush on a girl there— I wasn't sure which one.

"Yeah they make 'em okay here," George mumbled, making me look at him.

I didn't even feel like arguing with him. I wasn't going to be a whiny git like he was. But this— this was ridiculous. So I can't be friends with Cedric but he can drool over a veela in my presence and act like he did nothing wrong? Pathetic and annoying.

"The moment has come!" Dumbledore announced, standing up. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket—"

"The what?" I said. George laughed, and I frowned. Even if I wasn't going to say anything didn't mean I couldn't be annoyed.

"Mr Bagman and Mr Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months arranging this, and will be joining Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime and I as judges for the events. The casket, then, if you please, Mr Filch."

I noticed George was glaring at Bagman, who was sitting at the teacher's table. Mr Filch wheeled forward a wooden chest with jewels lining it.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have been examined," Dumbledore said. "All necessary arrangements have been made. The champions will face three tasks over the course of the year, and will be testing them in many different ways...their magical prowess, their daring, their deduction powers, their ability to cope with danger. The champion with the highest total of points after the three tasks will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

And with that the chest burst open, and the goblet came out, with it's tongues of blue flames dancing around. Dumbledore took it and placed it on top of the casket.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as a champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," Dumbledore continued. "Aspiring champions have twenty four hours to enter their names. Tomorrow night, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged as most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete."

Fred and George whispered something to themselves, then winked to me.

"We'll figure something out," I said happily, making Fred nod his head vigorously.

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross the line. Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name into the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you've become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

"An Age Line!" Fred said, standing up. "That should be fooled by an Aging Potion like we mentioned before— the goblet can't tell if you're seventeen or not."

"Let's brainstorm then," I said as we began to walk to the Gryffindor Common Room. "We'll make you two the Aging Potion and I'll figure something out."

"I already gathered those ingredients over the past weeks," George said. "We can brew it tonight in the Common Room."

I nodded. When we arrived, George ran upstairs to get the supplies.

"I saw how he stared at that veela girl," Fred said.

"I saw too," I mumbled. "It's annoying. You didn't look at her, you looked at Angelina."

"Maybe he's just weak when it comes to veela charm," Fred said. "Most people are."

"Hmm," I said as George returned with the ingredients.

I began brewing it immediately as we all discussed what the twins planned to do with the prize money if they won. They wanted to open a joke shop in Diagon Alley, which seemed like a good idea to me.

"What about you, Beth?" Fred asked. "What if you win?"

"I'll save it for later," I said. "Dunno what to do with it now."

"How do you even plan to get your name in?" George asked.

"I initially considered perhaps turning into a bird," I said. "But I think that if I shape shifted into a person who's old enough I could manage it— or maybe if I asked an older student to pop it in for me."

"Sounds good," Fred said. "When are you going to do it?"

"Well I don't have it all planned out yet," I said. "But if I did I'd have done it tonight so no one would see."

"Smart," Fred said with the grin. "Hey— is the potion ready?"

"Yep!" I said, pouring it into two flasks and handing it to them. "We'll see how they work tomorrow."

_______

Fred and George burst into the Great Hall in front Lee and I, laughing and holding their flasks.

"Did you do it?" Harry asked, seeing the flasks.

"Hell yes," Fred said. "Just taken it. Beth brewed it last night."

"One drop to age a few months," George added on.

"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins," Lee said. "Beth opted out of it."

"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know," Hermione said. "I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this."

I shrugged, and the twins and Lee ignored her.

Fred stepped over the line first. Nothing happened. George must've assumed it was totally safe because he stepped over it too. Within the next second there was the sound of a small explosion, and the twins were thrown back nearby where I was standing, with identical white beards on their chins.

Lee and I rushed forward, laughing harder than we ever had before, and held our hands out to help them up.

"Well it was worth a shot," George said, grinning. "I'd kiss you, Beth, but it'd look weird if you kissed an old man."

"Yes it would," I said, cupping his cheek.

"I did warn you," Dumbledore's voice said from behind us, making us turn around. "I suggest you go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Ms Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr Summers, of Hufflepuff. Neither of their beards are as fine as yours."

Lee burst out laughing even harder than before, and we led the twins out and toward the Hospital Wing.

I decided that I wouldn't take a chance at putting my name in. If their method didn't work then neither would mine, and I didn't want to end up with a beard. Besides, it was probably safer if I didn't anyway. Perhaps next year.

After the twins got sorted out we played Exploding Snap and did homework all the way until the feast that night to announce the champions.

"Now," Dumbledore said. "When the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table and go through into the next chamber where they will be receiving their first instructions."

"Any second now!" Lee said excitedly.

The goblet began to spit red flames, and a slip of parchment flew out into Dumbledore's hands.

"Ooh," I mumbled, my heart beating fast.

"The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum," Dumbledore said.

I clapped loudly along with everyone else in the Great Hall. Krum stood up and went to the chamber behind the staff table as he'd been instructed.

Another slip of parchment fluttered out.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"

I clapped again, and noticed Harry, Ron, and George clapped more excitedly than they had for Krum as the veela girl from yesterday went up. Fred and I looked at each other and I winced, pretending it didn't hurt me. It did.

The final slip of parchment flew into Dumbledore's hand.

"The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory."

"Yay!" I cheered along with the Hufflepuff table. George scowled at me and I rolled my eyes.

"I wasn't scowling when you cheered for that Beauxbatons girl," I said coldly.

"It's different," George said bluntly.

"No it's not," I said bitterly, shaking my head and looking up at Dumbledore.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore said. "Well we now have our three champions. I'm sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champions on, you will contribute in a very real—"

Then the goblet spewed more red fire. Another slip of parchment flew out, a slip that could not possibly have come out because there were only three schools, only one champion per school.

Dumbledore caught the parchment, with a worried expression on his face. He looked at it, and went pale. He looked up at us, then fixated his eyes on me.

My heart pounding, I seeped into his mind, which occurred with an ease I didn't expect.

What I read within his brain and what he spoke was said at the exact same time:

" _Elizabeth Potter_."


	36. Chapter 36

Everyone in the Great Hall was staring at me.

No one clapped, no one cheered, everyone simply stared.

"I didn't put my name in," I said automatically, my mouth dry. I was looking around at all my friends, whose faces were blank. "You— you know I didn't."

But no one said 'I believe you Beth!' or 'I know Beth, there's no way you did!'

No, instead, they just stared at me, their mouths twitching as though they intended to say something.

"Elizabeth Potter!" Dumbledore called again, his voice strained. "Elizabeth, up here if you please."

I didn't want to stand up. I stared at my friends again. Not a single one offered to go with me and advocate for me. Great.

My heart hammering in my chest, I stood up and shoved my hands in my robe pockets. I didn't look up as I walked. My face was probably whiter than the color white and besides, I didn't want to see every face in the Great Hall staring furiously at me.

"Well, through the door, Elizabeth," Dumbledore said as I arrived to the teacher's table.

"I didn't do it," I said, my voice trembling. "I didn't."

"I believe you, Elizabeth," Dumbledore said, nodding and urging me into the chamber were Viktor Krum, the veela girl, and Cedric were all sitting by the fireplace.

"What is it?" The veela girl asked, looking up at me expectantly. "Do zey want us back in ze Hall?"

"No," I said quietly.

Ludo Bagman entered the room behind us. He looked excitedly at the champions then at me. "Extraordinary! Gentlemen, lady, may I introduce— incredible though it may seem— the fourth Triwizard champion!"

"Vairy funny joke, Meester Bagman," the veela girl scoffed immediately, looking me up and down with distaste.

"Not at all!" Bagman said. "Elizabeth's name just came out of the Goblet of Fire."

Cedric looked at me, wide eyed, and blinked three times fast.

" _Did you actually put your name in_?" He thought.

" _No, I swear I didn't_ ," I responded.

He nodded, and offered me a half smile. Perhaps he actually believed me.

"But evidently zair 'as been a mistake," the veela girl snapped to Bagman. "She cannot compete. She is too young."

"You're right," I said fiercely, not liking her at all. "There has been. I didn't put my name in."

The door burst open, and the heads of the schools, Professors McGonagall and Snape, and Barty Crouch entered the room.

"Madame Maxime!" The veela girl cried, going over to the enormous Headmistress of Beauxbatons, "zey are saying zat ziz little girl is to compete also!"

"Little girl?" I asked icily, glaring at Madame Maxime as she looked at me with disgust.

"What is ze meaning of this, Dumbly dorr?" Madame Maxime asked, pursing her lips.

"I'd rather like to know that myself," the Durmstrang Headmaster sneered. "Two Hogwarts champions? I don't remember the rules stating the host school can have two champions. Or have I not read them carefully enough?"

"C'est impossible!" Madame Maxime said.

"We were under the impression that your Age Line would keep out younger contestants, Dumbledore," the Durmstrang Headmaster snapped. "Otherwise we would of course have brought along a wider selection of candidates from our own schools."

Snape looked at me, and I could tell he was contemplating whether to defend me or make me look like some lying idiot. I suppose he chose the former, because he kept his mouth shut.

"Elizabeth," Dumbledore said, making everyone in the room go silent, "did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?"

"No," I said, my voice cracking.

"Did you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?"

"No," I said again.

"Ah, but of course she is lying!" Madame Maxime trilled.

"She couldn't have crossed the Age Line!" McGonagall said sharply to her. "I'm sure we're all agreed on that!"

"Dumbly dorr must've made a mistake wiz ze line," Madame Maxime said.

"It's possible, of course," Dumbledore said quietly.

"Dumbledore, you know perfectly well you did not make a mistake!" McGonagall said. "Really, what nonsense! Elizabeth couldn't have crossed the line herself, and Dumbledore believes she didn't persuade an older student to do it for her. I'm sure that should be good enough for everyone else."

"Well—" Madame Maxime began.

"To tell you the truth," I said, gritting my teeth, "I did consider putting my name in. That I won't lie about. But when the Aging Potion didn't work with Fred and George, I decided whatever I had planned wasn't going to work, so I didn't do it."

Everyone stared at me.

"I'm telling the truth," I said, my eyes stinging with furious tears.

"I believe you are, Miss Potter," Dumbledore said. McGonagall nodded her head vigorously, and even Snape appeared to agree.

"What will we do then?" The Durmstrang Headmaster asked.

"We must follow the rules, and the rules clearly state that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament," Barty Crouch said gravely.

"I insist upon resubmitting the names of the rest of my students!" The Durmstrang Headmaster snapped. "You will set up the Goblet of Fire once more, and we will continue adding names until each school has two champions! It's only fair, Dumbledore."

"But Karkaroff, it doesn't work like that," Bagman said. "The Goblet of Fire's just gone out— it won't reignite until the start of the next tournament—"

"— in which Durmstrang will most certainly not be competing!" Karkaroff yelled. "After all our meetings and negotiations and compromises, I little expected something of this nature to occur! I have half a mind to leave NOW!" 

"Empty threat, Karkaroff," Moody's voice growled from the door. He limped inside, and stood in the circle we were all gathered in. "You can't leave your champion now. He's got to compete. They've all got to compete. Binding magical contract. Convenient, eh?"

"Convenient?" Karkaroff asked. "I'm afraid I don't understand you, Moody."

"Don't you?" Moody asked. "It's very simple, Karkaroff...someone put Potter's name in the goblet knowing she'd have to compete if it came out."

I looked at Moody, slightly confused.

"Evidently someone 'oo wished to give 'Ogwarts two bites at ze apple," Madam Maxime said.

"I quite agree!" Karkaroff said. "I shall be lodging complaints with the Ministry of Magic AND the International—"

"If anyone's got reason to complain, it's Potter," Moody said. "But funny thing, I don't hear her saying a word..."

"Why should she complain?" The veela girl asked snappishly. "Even if she did not put 'er name in ze goblet, she 'as ze chance to compete, 'asn't she? We 'ave all been 'oping to be chosen for weeks and weeks! Ze honor for our schools! A thousand Galleons in prize money— zis is a chance many would die for!"

"Maybe someone is hoping Potter will die for it," Moody said.

I felt my heart jump to my throat.

"Moody, old man, what a thing to say!" Bagman said.

"We all know Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn't discovered six plots to murder him before lunchtime," Karkaroff said. "Apparently he is now teaching his students to fear assassination too. An odd quality in a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dumbledore, but no doubt you had your reasons."

"Imagining things am I?" Moody growled. "Seeing things, eh? It was a skilled witch or wizard who put the girl's name in that goblet..."

"Ah, what evidence is zere of zat?" Madame Maxime asked.

"Because they hoodwinked a very powerful magical object!" Moody said. "It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the tournament. I'm guessing they submitted Potter's name under a fourth school, to make sure she was the only one in her category—"

"You seem to have given this a great deal of thought, Moody," Karkaroff sneered. "And a very ingenious theory it is— though of course, I heard you recently got it into your head that one of your birthday presents contained a cunningly disguised basilisk egg, and smashed it to pieces before realizing it was a carriage clock. So you'll understand if we don't take you entirely seriously..."

"There are those who'll turn innocent occasions to their advantage," Moody said. "It's my job to think as Dark wizards do, Karkaroff— as you ought to remember."

Karkaroff stared furiously at Moody.

"Well Professor Moody isn't wrong, is he?" I asked coldly, causing everyone's heads to snap in my direction. "Time and time again I've encountered Voldemort, and he's been after me since he discovered I have powers. Someone might be trying to kill me."

"Miss Potter don't think too much about that," McGonagall said, although she looked worried.

"That's right!" Karkaroff said furiously. "This girl has abilities that apply to Duquette's Law of Superhuman Powers! She's at an advantage! She very well might have managed to hoodwink the Goblet of Fire—"

"I did not!" I cried, making everyone go silent. "I already said I planned to— but I didn't!"

"Well Karkaroff," Crouch said, "if it pleases you, Miss Potter will not be allowed to use her powers. Miss Potter, please state what you are able to do."

"I can read minds," I said, my chest tightening. "I can summon things into my hands. I can shape shift. I can turn myself and others invisible. And I'm immortal."

"Unfair! Absolutely unfair!" Karkaroff roared.

"Miss Potter," Crouch said, "you are under severe restriction to not utilize any of your powers throughout the course of this tournament. Do you accept this?"

"That's fine by me!" I said, glaring at a furious Karkaroff.

"It's settled then," Crouch said. "Miss Potter will compete, and she will use only her wand, not the powers given to her by Duquette's law."

Karkaroff still looked furious, but nodded his head in reluctant agreement.

"How this situation arose, we do not know," Dumbledore said loudly, drawing the attention back to him. "It seems to me, however, that we have no choice but to accept it. Both Cedric and Elizabeth have been chosen to compete in the Tournament. This therefore, they will do."

"But Dumbly dorr—" Madame Maxime began.

"My dear Madame Maxime," Dumbledore said calmly. "If you have an alternative, I would be delighted to hear it."

Madame Maxime said nothing, and just pursed her lips. She looked at me and rolled her eyes, then turning away to look at the very angry veela girl who looked like she'd enjoy strangling me.

"Well, shall we crack on, then?" Bagman asked. "Got to give our champions their instructions, haven't we? Barty, want to do the honors?"

"Yes," Crouch said, sighing gravely. "Instructions. Yes, the first task. It is designed to test your daring. So we are not going to be telling you what it is. Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard, very important. The first task will take place on November the twenty fourth in front of the other students and panel of judges.

"The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete he tasks in the tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time consuming nature of the tournament, the champions are exempted from end of year tests."

"This unfortunately cannot apply to Miss Potter," McGonagall cut in, wringing her hands together. "It's her OWL year."

The judges all looked at each other.

"I can take my OWLs," I said. "I'm pretty sure I can keep up with schoolwork. I've already taken two of my OWLs last year."

"Excuse me?" Madame Maxime asked.

"Miss Potter demonstrates a very high capability with Potions and Transfiguration," Snape said abruptly. "She received an Outstanding in both and is in the NEWT level class for both. Therefore she has two less tests to take."

"Those are the most difficult subjects," I said. "I can manage it."

"I suppose that will need to happen, then," Crouch said. "But if for any reason you cannot handle it, Miss Potter, the Ministry can grant you a chance to take your OWLs during the summer."

"I'll handle it," I said, looking directly at the veela girl. "I'm stronger than you think. I'm not a little girl. I'm just as capable of dealing with it as any other person in the room."

"Wonderful," Dumbledore said, half smiling. "That settles it. Elizabeth, Cedric...I suggest you go up to bed. I'm sure your houses are waiting to celebrate with you, and it would be a shame to deprive them of this excellent excuse to make a great deal of mess and noise."

Cedric came to me and slipped his hand into mine, pulling me quickly out of the chamber.

The Great Hall was empty. He didn't speak until we got out into the entrance hall, where he turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders.

"Tell me what you were planning," he said.

"I was going to shape shift into an older person. I fully embody a creature or person when I shapeshift into them," I said.

Cedric nodded. "I don't think that would've worked anyway, I'm sure the Age Line might've kept you out regardless of how fully you embody the person."

I sighed, shivering, my hands shaking uncontrollably.

Then I burst into tears.

"Hey hey," Cedric said, pulling me into his chest and wrapping his arms around me.

"O-Oh I'm a-all e-e-emotional again," I stammered. "B-Bloody hell...."

"It's okay to be emotional," Cedric said, rubbing my back. "This is a lot to take in— this is worrying, you're allowed to be emotional if you need to be."

I nodded and let more tears slip out, sniffling so hard my nose burned.

"N-No one believes me," I choked. "M-My friends... t-they all stared a-at me like I was some sort of l-l-liar..."

"They were probably just in shock," Cedric said. "I'm sure they know you're telling the truth."

"I-I don't know," I mumbled.

"Come on," Cedric said, letting go of me. "I'll walk you to your Common Room."

I nodded. We walked in complete silence all the way to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, where Cedric gave me another hug then let me step into my Common Room.

Bixby, Katie, and Batavia were waiting for me on the couch. The Gryffindors around the Common Room started cheering, but I ignored them and sprinted straight to the only three people who cared what I was feeling right now.

"Beth!" Batavia cried, running to me and hugging me. "Are you okay?"

"N-No," I mumbled.

"What did they say?" Bixby asked. "Do you have to compete?"

"Y-Yes," I said. Then I furrowed my brows. "Wait— you believe me?"

"Of course we do!" Katie cried. "You told us yourself you weren't going to do it after the twins got beards!"

"But the others—"

"—are bitter, yes," Batavia sighed. "Fred and Lee are a bit hurt you didn't try and help them enter, but I think after the talk Bixby gave them, they'll come around soon..."

"And George?" I asked, thinking the worst.

All of them were silent.

"Oh my God," I said, my voice cracking as I tried not to start crying again.

"He's just being stupid again!" Katie cried, getting up and pulling me to the couch to sit down.

"He's going to be so angry," I said, tears beginning to roll down my cheeks.

"Well it's unfair if he is!" Bixby cried. "He should believe you—"

"Have you SEEN him lately?" I asked, squeezing my eyes shut. "He can't believe anything that comes out of my mouth!"

Batavia pursed her lips.

The Gryffindors surrounded me then started offering me food, which I snappishly declined. I couldn't see Hermione, Ron, or Harry anywhere— and for that matter I couldn't see the twins and Lee either.

"I need to go to bed," I said, my voice hoarse.

"Yes, let's go," Katie said, putting her arm around me and beginning to lead me upstairs, shoving past the crowd of Gryffindors that were trying to congratulate me.

Just as we reached the staircase, Fred and Lee came down.

They looked angry at first, but then when they saw how blotchy my face was their expressions softened.

"Beth..." Fred said.

"I didn't put my name in," I croaked. "I didn't— I wouldn't— I swear—"

"Hey," Lee said, coming closer, "I-I'm sorry we were angry about it at first. But now... I don't think you could've intentionally dropped your name in and look this sad."

I let out a mirthless laugh. "Y-Yeah," I said, my voice cracking even more. "Try telling that to everyone else! The Headmistress of Beauxbatons and Headmaster of Durmstrang think I'm a sneaky little liar and that stupid veela girl probably wants to kill me, and then I find out George is absolutely pissed—"

"We tried talking to him," Fred said. "Really we did. He's just jealous, I expect—"

"He's ALWAYS jealous!" I shrieked. "He's jealous of Cedric, who is JUST my friend, he's jealous of me becoming a champion, which is VERY LIKELY a set up to get me killed— but then I'm not allowed to be jealous that he won't stop making googly eyes at that veela girl! I'm sick of it! He's known me since we were babies and he doesn't believe anything I say!"

"He just—"

"I don't want to hear it!" I cried. "Unless he can come give me a genuine apology—"

George then came downstairs, looking bitter.

"George—" I began.

"So you couldn't help us?" George asked flatly. "You couldn't have tried—"

"I didn't put my bloody name in the Goblet!" I shrieked.

"Like hell you didn't," George spat. "You gave me a very elaborate layout of what you planned to do to get your name in—"

"But I didn't end up doing it after I saw what happened to you and Fred!" I cried. "You've got to believe me—"

"Well I can't," George said, making Fred and Lee begin to yell at them.

"Really?" I said, balling up my fists. "Well if you can't trust me at all then maybe we shouldn't continue this relationship."

"Yeah, maybe we shouldn't!" George bellowed.

I wanted to slap him, but couldn't being myself to do it. So instead I left Katie, Bixby, Batavia, Fred, and Lee to yell at him as I sprinted up to my dormitory.

Inside, Hermione was waiting for me.

"What happened?" She asked, her eyes wide.

"The Heads of the other schools don't believe me," I said. "Now everyone thinks I'm a liar. Oh! And I'm basically forced to compete now and I can't use my powers! What's more, I just broke up with George because he still doesn't believe a single word that I say!"

"Oh Beth," Hermione said, coming over to hug me.

I let her, but refused to allow myself to cry anymore.

"Do Harry and Ron have opinions on this?" I asked bitterly.

"They're a little surprised," Hermione said. "But they both believe you. Harry sent Sirius and Professor Lupin a letter about it right away."

"Good," I said, my lip trembling.

I didn't sleep very well that night, to say the least.

The next morning was awful. The entire Hufflepuf house was being hostile with me— Cedric being the only one who would even speak to me in a civil manner.

The Ravenclaws were intent on figuring out which power I used to get my name in.

The Slytherins were only slightly worse than the Hufflepuffs. They were calling me a sneak, among other foul things.

During Potions, George didn't even look at me. Cedric tried to do everything possible so I wouldn't even think of him, but my mind kept wandering back to George. I couldn't even believe this had happened.

"Miss Potter?" Snape called as soon as class ended.

As I walked up to his desk, George pushed past me angrily and stormed to the door. Rolling my eyes and deciding I wouldn't get emotional over him at all, I went up to Snape.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Horrible," I said.

"That's expected," Snape said. "For the record, I believe you."

"Thanks," I mumbled, looking down.

"Miss Potter," Snape said, "I know this is a lot to take in, but now more than ever you need to be as strong as you can. This is a dangerous situation— I won't sugarcoat it— you are in danger."

"Do you really think someone might be trying to kill me?" I whispered.

"As much as I dislike the fact that Professor Moody proposed it so openly, I have to say it is a striking possibility," Snape said.

"Lovely," I said sarcastically.

"I do believe it will all be fine, though," Snape said. "The Professors are all on your side, and will be keeping a lookout for suspicious people."

"Good," I said. "At least someone believes me."

"What about your friends?" Snape asked.

"Erm— I'm not sure you really want to hear it all," I said, deeming it awkward to talk to Snape about my personal problems.

Snape sighed heavily. "As your teacher I must be available to discuss your emotional concerns just as much as your academic ones."

"Okay," I said. "Well, all my friends believe me except George. He's been doubting my trustworthiness for awhile now, and he's being the biggest jealous prat I've ever met. First he's accusing me of having feelings for Cedric when he knows we're just friends and now he's jealous because I didn't help him enter the tournament— and oh! He doesn't believe that I didn't put my name in. So I broke up with him last night."

I could tell Snape regretted saying I could rant to him.

"Well from what I can tell you still have other friends," Snape said with a strained voice. "Er— Miss Potter— don't er— just ignore Mr Weasley..."

"Thanks," I said. "Sorry for making this awkward for you... I'll leave now."

Snape stared at me blankly and nodded as I scurried out of class.

I found Cedric waiting for me outside.

"I've made you late to your next class!" I said. "You didn't have to wait for me!"

"Well I'm your friend," Cedric said. "And this is what friends do for each other."

I smiled wryly.

"Look," Cedric said, "I'm going to be honest with you. I did fancy you last year— and even did during the summer. But I don't anymore. I like the idea of us just being friends. And I want to be here for you as your friend. Now if you decide you never want to get back together with George then hey, I'm not going to lie and say I wouldn't mind this friendship becoming more— but to tell you the truth I think you and George are... meant to be. I think you'll patch things up eventually. So Beth, I'm just your friend. Best friend if you need me to be. But I promise I'm not trying to date you."

I grinned at him. "Thanks. See? George was worried for nothing." Then I paused. "Do you really think we'll get back together?"

"Oh I know you will," Cedric said. "Because I know what he saw in the Mirror of Erised."

"What?" I spluttered. "How do YOU know?"

"I heard him tell Fred," Cedric said. "I won't tell you what he saw, but I will tell you— he's been in love with you forever. He'll stop being a prat soon enough. You two are going to end up together. I know it."


	37. Chapter 37

"Look everyone! It's the champion. Got your autograph books? Better get a signature now, because I doubt she's going to be around much longer. Half the Triwizard champions have died. How long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task's my bet."

"Go suck a troll's bottom, Gretchen," I snarled to the now giggling Slytherin sixth year.

"Or what?" She asked. "Going to turn into a scary animal and hurt me?"

"I said—"

"BATAVIA, NO!"

Batavia had launched herself at Gretchen. I summoned her straight into my arms just as she was about to punch her in the face.

"Let me at her—"

"No!" I hissed, trying to restrain her. The Slytherins were cackling now, and part of me wanted to let Batavia break their faces.

"It's not worth it," Katie said, patting Batavia's head. "They won't stop."

"It's bloody annoying," Batavia snapped, sending Gretchen a rather rude hand sign as we trudged away. "How can you deal with it Beth?"

"It's been over half a month," I said, shrugging. "I've stopped giving a fuck."

"Hey Potter!"

I didn't even turn around, and just kept walking to Charms.

"POTTER!"

"Ignore them— it's that stupid Hufflepuff girl again," Katie hissed.

"The one who called my mother a—"

"Yes."

"Fuck her."

"Yes."

"Oh damn," Batavia growled, looking over her shoulder. "She's teamed up with those bloody Slytherins..."

"How do you know?" I asked, not wanting to turn around.

"They're exchanging some sort of badges...." Katie mumbled.

I couldn't stand the temptation. I whipped my head around and almost broke my neck in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the badges, which read in marvelous letters " Support Cedric Diggory—the REAL Hogwarts Champion."

"Like them, Potter?" Draco Malfoy asked cheekily, coming closer to us. "And this isn't all they do— look!"

He pressed the badge and a glowing green message appeared, which read "Potter stinks."

"Oh god," I groaned. I offered Malfoy a cheeky smile. "Ingenious, really. I wonder— have your parents ever asked you to run away from home? I expect they should've— dunno why your father would want an heir whose trouser snake is smaller than an eyelash..."

The fact that Malfoy turned beet red was enough indication that I'd hit a soft spot.

"I'd like to wear one of those badges," I said to Batavia and Katie after we left Malfoy dumbfounded and furious. "Perhaps then people would get their heads out of their arses and realize I'm not lying."

"Oh just ignore them!" Batavia said, shoving a Ravenclaw girl away as she whispered intently to her friend and looked at me.

"It's kind of hard to," I said, noticing how many stares I was getting. "You'd think they'd get tired of looking... that boy must've stared at me every day this week."

"Ugh I hate him," Katie said. "He tried to kiss me once at an afterparty for Quidditch."

"Bloody hell does he even HAVE an upper lip?"

"No."

Batavia, Katie, and I burst out laughing. It felt good to try and be optimistic about the situation. Quite honestly, I think Batavia and Katie were enjoying themselves a lot— they got to insult everyone they'd had to hold their tongue about before.

We walked into Charms and took our seats near Bixby, who was asleep on a desk.

"Why'd he get here so early?" Katie asked, sitting next to him and stroking his hair.

"Flitwick gives him sugar mice if he helps with the first year class," Batavia chirped.

"Favoritism," I coughed, making the girls smirk.

We sat down and waited for Professor Flitwick to arrive. When he did, we began to take textbooks notes in a rather awkward silence— until I realized that was because half the class was staring at me rather than doing their work.

"I'm surprised that girl even knows how to hold a quill," Batavia whispered as Slytherin Janice Lopp snickered at me. "I've only ever seen her sucking other people's trouser snakes."

"Bloody hell did you ACTUALLY?" I asked, scrunching up my nose.

"Nope," Batavia said. "She just has a reputation."

"Ah," I said, giggling.

The door opened, and a familiar boy stepped inside.

"Professor Flitwick?" Colin Creevey asked. "I'm supposed to take Elizabeth Potter upstairs."

"Oh!" Flitwick said, nodding. "Yes of course— Miss Potter, you may finish the notes on your own. Have them done by Monday."

"Thank you," I said, grabbing my bag and waving to Batavia and Katie before scurrying out after Colin.

"It's amazing, isn't it Beth?" Colin asked excitedly as he started walking me toward the entrance hall. "Isn't it though? You being champion?"

"No," I said bluntly. "It sucks. What do they want, by the way?"

"Pictures for the Daily Prophet, I think," Colin said.

"Oh god," I said, feeling my chest tighten, and a memory resurface.

" _It can't be, Elizabeth and Harry Potter?"_

_I whipped around to see Gilderoy Lockhart dive forward, seizing Harry and I uncomfortably by the shoulders and pulling us to the front. I covered my face with my hands, growing anxious as all the photographers nearby snapped their cameras, attempting to get a picture._

_Fred, George, Lee, and Katie tried to argue with them, telling them to stop since Harry and I were both uncomfortable, but it amounted to nothing._

_I was panicking at this point. I didn't like all the cameras turned in my direction, I didn't like how bright the lights were, I didn't like all the loud voices shouting for me to get my hands out of my face, I didn't want a single bit of attention, I wanted to get away this instant._

_"Ladies and gentlemen!" Lockhart said loudly, finally releasing Harry and I, "what an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!_

_"When young Elizabeth and Harry stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, they only wanted to buy my autobiography — which I shall be happy to present to them now, free of charge—"_

_He shoved a book into Harry and I's hands, and I shoved it back into his hands._

_"I don't want it," I said, feeling more and more uncomfortable by the minute._

_"Nonsense!" Lockhart laughed. "Now, them and their schoolmates will be in fact, getting the REAL magical me! Yes ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"_

_The crowd cheered, and I grabbed Harry's hand and made a wild dive forward to get away from Lockhart, breathing heavily and holding my head as I staggered to where the Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the twins, Lee, and Katie were waiting for us._

_"Beth, are you alright?" Katie asked frantically._

_"So bright," I said hoarsely, shaking from head to toe. "So bright... I can't... I didn't... I don't like..."_

_"Beth!" George said, hoisting me up. "You're okay... you're okay..."_

_"What's wrong with her?" Harry asked frantically_.

"Is something wrong, Beth?" Colin asked.

"Cameras," I mumbled, wringing my hands together. "Cameras... the lights... make me anxious... the people... staring... attention..."

"Oh," Colin said, going pale. "Well maybe if you tell them..."

He opened the door to a classroom and urged me to step inside. I nodded and winced, seeing a wizard holding an enormous camera, Ludo Bagman, and a woman I knew to be the notoriously annoying Rita Skeeter, reporter for the Daily Prophet and the world's biggest liar.

Viktor Krum was lingering in the corner, not looking at anyone. The veela girl was trying to talk to Cedric, but when he saw me come in he excused himself and came over, which made the girl sneer at me.

"Hey Beth," Cedric said, smiling. "How are you?"

"As good as can be expected," I said.

"No word from George?"

"He won't even look at me," I said. "But who cares? How about you and that girl... the one you said was pretty?"

"Cho Chang," Cedric said with a smile. "Well... I'm working my way up to talking to her. I er— accidentally bumped into her on my way to Herbology yesterday."

"Accidentally my arse," I snickered, making Cedric laugh.

"Ah! All four champions are here!" Ludo Bagman said, turning around and realizing I'd entered the room. "Good good, step this way— just the wand weighing ceremony, the rest of the judges will be here in a minute—"

"Wand weighing?" Cedric asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We have to check that your wands are fully functional, no problems you know, as they're your most important tools in the tasks ahead," Bagman said. "The expert's upstairs now with Dumbledore. And then there's going to be a little photo shoot. This is Rita Skeeter— she's doing a small piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet."

"Maybe not that small, Ludo," Rita said, baring strangely pointed teeth. "I wonder... if I could have a little word with Elizabeth before we start?" She stared at me intently. "The youngest champion, you know, to add a bit of color?"

"Certainly!" Bagman cried. "That is— if Elizabeth has no objection."

"Um," I said, feeling my cheeks grow hot. "I don't want—"

"Lovely," Rita said, reaching out to grab my arm. Cedric abruptly stepped forward and stopped her, which made her look him up and down with a strange expression.

"She said she didn't want to," Cedric said firmly.

"Oh she'll be fine," Rita said, grinning malevolently and diving forward to grab my arm and pull me out of the classroom. Cedric looked worried as I left.

It probably would've been a very good idea to escape her grasp. And I wish I would have. But in the moment I didn't think that it'd be wise for a champion to turn into a snake to slither away.

"We don't want to be in there with all that noise," Rita said, a door and shoving me inside. "Let's see... this is nice and cozy."

"Well it's sort of a broom cupboard," I mumbled under my breath.

Rita let out a short laugh and urged me to sick on the bucket opposite to the one she'd just perched herself on.

"Let's see now," she said, taking out several candles and waving her wand to make them float above us, illuminating the tiny room. "That's much better...."

She took out a long acid green quill and smiled. "You won't mind, Elizabeth, if I use a Quick Quotes Quill? It leaves me free to talk to you normally..."

"What does it do?" I asked suspiciously.

"It writes as you speak," Rita said flatly. "Testing... my name is Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet reporter."

But instead of writing what she'd said, the quill wrote " _Attractive blonde Rita Skeeter, forty three, whose savage quill has punctured many inflated reputations_."

"Can we not use the quill?" I asked, grimacing.

"Nonsense it's all fine," Rita said, nearly stabbing my eye out as she took the quill in her hands and waved it wildly in the air. She ripped the top parchment off her stack and stuffed it into her pocket. "So... Elizabeth.... what made you decide to enter the Triwizard Tournament?"

"I didn't," I said bluntly. My eyes traveled to the parchment and saw the quill had written " _although she doesn't have an ugly scar like her brother, Elizabeth Potter is disfigured by a permanently sad look that is testimony to her tragic past_ —"

"Ignore the quill," Rita said. "Elaborate for me, will you?"

"I said I didn't decide to enter the tournament," I repeated. "I didn't put my name in. I don't know how it got in there."

"Come on, now, Elizabeth," Rita said, raising her eyebrow. "There's no need to be scared of getting into trouble. We all know you shouldn't really have entered at all. But don't worry about that. Our readers love a rebel."

"I swear I didn't enter," I said desperately, beginning to feel anxious in such a small space. "I don't know—"

"How do you feel about the tasks ahead?" Rita interrupted. "Excited? Nervous?"

"Nervous because I didn't sign up for this," I said, my forehead beginning to sweat. The quill had written " _her face is beaded with sweat as she bravely admits she didn't think her decision to put her name in thoroughly enough_."

"Ignore the quill!" Rita trilled. "Now— Champions have died in the past, haven't they? Have you thought about that at all?"

"Obviously I have and that's why I think someone put my name in to try and get me killed—"

"Of course, you've seen what death looks like," Rita said, eyeing me closely. "How would you say that's affected you?"

"I don't—"

"Do you think that the trauma of your past might have made you keen to prove yourself?" Rita asked.

"No, I don't need to prove myself—"

"To live up to the fame your brother made for you?"

"No I wouldn't—"

"Do you think that perhaps you were tempted to enter he Triwizard Tournament to become more than just Harry Potter's older sister?"

"I didn't enter and I already have a name for myself thanks—"

"Can you remember your parents at all?" Rita interrupted.

"Yes," I said, wringing my hands together.

Rita stopped for a moment. "You can? What do you remember?"

"A lot of things," I stammered, beginning to tremble. "I have a really good memory of them—"

"How do you think they'd feel if they knew you were competing in the Triwizard Tournament? Proud? Angry? Worried?"

"They'd be worried because I didn't put my name in—"

I looked down and saw the quill had written " _Tears fill those startling green eyes as our conversation turns to the parents that she can remember as vividly as this morning_ —"

"I'm not crying because of my parents!" I shrieked. "I don't like this small space and I don't want to be interviewed—"

The door opened and Dumbledore looked inside at us.

I sprang forward and ran out the door, running straight to the wall and gasping for air as Dumbledore cocked an eyebrow to Rita, who was grinning in an absurd sort of delight.

"How are you?" She asked, looking at me with remote disgust. "I hope you saw my piece over the summer about the International Confederation of Wizards' Conference."

"Enchantingly nasty," Dumbledore said. "I particularly enjoyed your description of me as an obsolete dingbat."

"I was just making the point that some of your ideas are a little old fashioned, Dumbledore, and that many wizards in the streets—"

"I will be delighted to hear the reasoning behind the rudeness, Rita," Dumbledore said with a courteous smile, "but I'm afraid we will have to discuss the matter later. The Weighing of the Wands is about to start, and it cannot take place if one of our champions is hidden in a broom cupboard."

Gasping, I nodded my head vigorously. My heart was still beating abnormally fast, but I felt better than I had just a minute ago.

Dumbledore smiled to me and slowly led me back to the other classroom, where Mr Ollivander was preparing to take everyone's wands.

"Mademoiselle Delacour?" He asked the veela girl. "Could we have you first, please?"

Cedric walked over to me with a genuine look of concern.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Stupid Rita Skeeter is what," I said, rubbing my chest. "That tiny little closet..."

"You're claustrophobic?" Cedric asked. "I had no idea."

"Neither did I until now," I said. "And her quill kept writing lies about me— made me look like a blubbering baby who put her name into the Goblet in an attempt to be more famous than my brother."

"Oh that's ridiculous," Cedric said. "Ah— damn be right back."

Ollivander waved him over. The veela girl came back, and suddenly her eyebrows furrowed when she saw me.

"Are you alright?" She asked, looking worried.

"No," I said, a bit more high pitched than usual.

"What is wrong?" She asked. "'Ave you 'ad anyzing to eat?"

"I have," I said. "It's nothing, I'm fine—"

"'O please," she said, waving her hand in the air. "I am not stupid. Somezing is wrong with you, I 'ave the ability to tell zat."

"I don't want to bother you," I said, taking a cautious step away.

"Don't be ridiculous!" She said. "I 'ave been rude to you, and for zat I apologize. But I care."

I took a deep breath. "I know you don't believe me but I didn't enter this tournament. I didn't want to do this. And now Rita Skeeter's going to publish an article making me look like I did it for fame and it's going to make me look like a bigger idiot when I fail the first task."

The veela girl shook her head. "You are not an idiot. I did not believe it at first, but I 'ave a feeling you are telling ze truth. You look much too sad about zis to have entered. Ignore zat Skeeter woman. She can make you look worse zan zis, I guarantee zat."

I smiled and nodded.

"I am Fleur Delacour, by ze way," she said, reaching a slender hand out for me to shake.

"Nice to meet you," I said, smiling slightly as she offered me what appeared to be a real smile in return.

"Miss Potter?"

I took my wand in my hands and walked up to Ollivander.

"Ah yes," he said when he took it. "How well I remember. Mahogany, ten and a half inches, dragon heartstring core, so similar to the one your father had... yes... Avis!"

Several little birds shot out of it.

"Excellent condition, Miss Potter!" Ollivander said. "Now there you are..."

He handed me back my wand and smiled.

"Thank you all," Dumbledore said. "You may all go back to your lessons now— or perhaps it would-be quicker to just go down to dinner, as they are about to end."

I felt a smile creep onto my face. I wouldn't have to deal with flashing cameras! I could just go on my merry way—

"Photos, Dumbledore, photos!" Bagman said excitedly. "All the judges and champions, what do you think, Rita?"

"Yes!" Rita said happily. "Yes— Fleur and Elizabeth in front, please!"

I felt my heart drop into the pit of my stomach as I got dragged forward into the front row. As the camera began to go off I felt the same panicked feeling I'd felt in Flourish and Blotts two years ago. I tried my best not to cover my face but after five pictures, I couldn't take it anymore.

"C-Can I be excused?" I asked abruptly, standing up and bringing my hands up to my mouth.

"Are you quite alright, Miss Potter?" Bagman asked.

I shook my head vigorously, feeling like I was about to faint.

"We don't need more pictures," Cedric said suddenly, swooping in and putting his arm around me to lead me away. I knew everyone was watching when he put his hands on my shoulders.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"N-No," I whispered, trembling all over.

Cedric said nothing me. He simply let me out of the room and all the way down to the Great Hall.

He didn't remove his arm from around my shoulder until he sat me down next to Batavia, Bixby, and Katie, who were all puzzled.

"Um," Cedric said, rubbing the back of his head, "I think she had some sort of panic attack from the cameras and being in a closet with Rita Skeeter."

"Skeeter?" Bixby asked indignantly. "She's here?"

"And she's about to make me look like a weak moron," I choked, still shivering as Katie began rubbing my back.

"Thanks Diggory," Batavia said, nodding and smiling. Cedric offered a friendly smile back and headed down to the Hufflepuff table.

I looked up, and saw that from a few seats away, George was watching with a biscuit halfway into his mouth.

I shook my head and looked down as Batavia handed me a goblet of pumpkin juice and implored me to drink up.

I didn't eat much. Bixby and Katie tried their hardest to convince me that I needed something in my stomach but I refused, feeling absolutely awful.

"You've got a letter," Harry said as soon as I walked into the Common Room, handing me an envelope that was already open.

"Well I suppose it's our letter now, since you've opened it," I said quietly, which made Harry laugh softly.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"No," I said. "Reckon you could write to Mr and Mrs Weasley and tell them not to believe a word Rita Skeeter writes about me? I don't want them to think lesser of me or that they needs to have me on suicide watch or something."

Harry looked a bit taken aback by my request but nodded.

I took the letter in my hands and went to sit on the couch.

" _Elizabeth—_

_I can't say everything I would like to in a letter, it's too risky in case the owl is intercepted. Remus and I have decided we need to speak with you face to face. Can you ensure that you and Harry are alone by the fire in Gryffindor Tower at one o'clock in the morning of the 22nd of November?_

_I know better than anyone that you can look after yourself and while Dumbledore and Moody are around I don't think anyone will be able to hurt you. However, someone seems to be having a good try. Entering you in that tournament would have been very risky, especially right under Dumbledore's nose._

_Be on watch, Elizabeth. I want to hear about anything usual. I'm not staying with Remus now, but I'll send him the letters you send me. Let me know about the 22nd of November as quickly as you can so I know to make a plan for getting to Remus' place that night. He thanks you for the wolfsbane potion by the way._

_Sirius_."


	38. Chapter 38

Let me tell you something. Not necessarily a secret, according to Batavia, but well, whatever.

I have NEVER, and I repeat, NEVER wanted to intentionally take someone's life.

Sure I have been so bloody angry that I wish someone would just disappear and never exist but I, Elizabeth Lily Potter, swear on Merlin's grave I've never truly wanted to kill anyone.

Now forget everything I just said because when Rita Skeeter's article came out regarding my little panic attack in the closet and during the photoshoot, I was MURDEROUS.

And I thought it might be a good day. The Slytherins hadn't teased me as much.... George and I had had considerably more distance so I felt at peace for once (although it still hurt to think it had all fallen apart), and overall I felt a bit better than I had recently.

That was, until Hermione slapped a copy of the Daily Prophet onto my toast and one, made the jam spoon launch itself to the back of Fleur's head (it only didn't hit her because I summoned it back into my hand), and ruined my bloody day because of what Rita had written.

To be honest with you, I didn't read it right away. And I didn't have to— because I knew how much bullshit would be in it. I swear any article Rita Skeeter writes is ALWAYS worthy of being used as loo paper or whatever you want to call it— Batavia and Bixby say that the Americans call it toilet paper and on good days Charmin Ultra Soft or some load of rat dung like that— so besides the point, I knew it was going to be right garbage when I saw it.

"Well," Cedric said as I handed it to him at lunch while we were in Flitwick's classroom so he could read it aloud. "At least they picked a... well... I'd say it IS rather nice..."

"That's the most godawful picture they could have picked!" I moaned, rubbing my temples.

"Er— no incest you look pretty," Cedric said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Well we see each other as siblings," he said hastily. "So not trying to be incestful... or however you'd say it... but you look pretty."

"Siblings can compliment each other, dummy!"

"You're my only sibling," he said blankly, making me laugh and roll my eyes.

"Just get it over with," I sighed, putting my head down on the desk. "Read every word."

Cedric cleared his throat.

He began to read the article. It really was about my interview in that horrid broom closet so I suppose it not having insight into my panic attack was a rather good thing but nevertheless it was horrendous beyond belief.

"...'I suppose I get my strength from my parents. I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now... Yes sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it... I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me.'

"Elizabeth's close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Elizabeth is rarely seen out of the company of one Cedric Diggory, a very attractive boy who, like Elizabeth, is one of the top students in the school. Elizabeth seems to have taken quite an interest in Cedric, who has become one of her closest friends. Reporters witnessed him hugging her and leading her away from the cameras after she had a panic attack during a photoshoot. It seems that Elizabeth has found love at Hogwarts at long last..."

"Since when is Colin my best friend?" I shrieked as Cedric finished reading the article, angrier than I'd been when I first asked him to read it. "That woman—"

"—is a bitch," Cedric said. "I gave up my no cursing streak for that because she IS a bitch. Just ignore her— and anyone who says anything."

"That won't be easy," I mumbled in annoyance.

"When has your life ever been easy, I mean really," Cedric said, making me squint at him.

"It hasn't been."

"Exactly."

Let me just say that trying to ignore the comments everyone made AFTER the article came out was even harder than ignoring their comments about me supposedly entering myself for the bloody tournament.

It seemed that those who hadn't been interested in me before were now interested. People were talking more about it— how Elizabeth Potter had put her name in and regretted it instantly and how she and Cedric Diggory were dating. It was absurd.

The Gryffindors attempted to be supportive. The day the article came out (after I'd finally read it, of course), Batavia stood up on the couch of the Common Room and screamed that anyone who believed the things Rita Skeeter wrote would get a not-so-friendly visit from her.

This had worked— for the most part. The majority of the Gryffindors had grown silent, talking to me normally and offering support every now and then.

Also— remember how I said George and I had given each other more distance?

We really had. We'd tried and limited seeing each other as much as possible which worked really well and was helping me for the most part try and get over him (although that was proving impossible).

However, the ENTIRE two weeks after the article came out it was like I was permanently invisible to him. AND BY THIS I MEAN IT WAS ABSOLUTELY WORSE THAN BEFORE.

I mean if we were giving each other 'distance' before this was more like putting five galaxies between us. He refused to look at me during class, and would sit far away from me at the Gryffindor table, which angered Fred and Lee because they wanted to sit near me. I ended up moving to sit at the Hufflepuff table every day, which wasn't as bad as I thought. Cedric had told all the Hufflepuffs that I was telling the truth about not putting my name in, and he made it very clear we were just friends. At least they respected me then.

But back to George— Fred has talked to him to many bloody times that Angelina has lost count. He keeps trying to get us together to talk it all out and figure out if we can at least be friends but George is so stubborn and literally will NOT comply. So I suppose in his mind we can't even be friends anymore which is REALLY pissing me off. This wasn't even supposed to happen to begin with! If he wasn't such a jealous prick—

Oh, and I'm ranting again! Bloody hell I need to stop doing that. Katie says it's bad for your mental health and I think she's right. I hate being so emotional about it all but I can't help it.

I fell in love with George Weasley and now it's like even defeating Voldemort has no meaning.

Totally kidding. I shouldn't get THAT wound up over a boy.

It's hard... though...

Anyway. So, despite the fact that my day goes to right shit every bloody time there is some good things mixed in that make me realize my life does NOT revolve around boys and what they make me feel regardless of how much I love the feeling or them or.... bleh.

Fleur Delacour sits with me at dinner most nights, and tells me all about France and her little sister, Gabrielle. For someone who appeared to have despised me from the very beginning, it was a little surprising at first. She still sits at the Ravenclaw table when she wants to but she's really aimed at having a close friendship with me and I couldn't appreciate it more.

Even Viktor Krum had talked to me.

One day I'd been sitting by the lake practicing Transfiguration spells and studying Charms I might use for whatever the first task was.

I had intended to be alone the entire time, and had even picked the most isolated spot I could think of— right at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. I didn't expect anyone to find me there considered how hidden I was from the school windows. But when I heard the sound of feet running behind me I felt my peace disturbed.

I turned around to see Viktor Krum coming out of the Forbidden Forest, covered in sweat. He noticed me and jogged my way, which made me sign internally.

"Vat are you doing here?" He asked, panting as he began to stretch his legs out.

"Preparing," I said simply. "You?"

"I vos doing the same thing," he said, taking a seat beside me and stretching his legs out. "My name is Viktor Krum."

"Elizabeth Potter," I said, nodding and waving my wand again, transfiguring the book I brought into a small cat.

Viktor watched me curiously. "You are very advanced in magic," he noted.

"Just in Transfiguration and Potions," I said, waving my wand again to get my Charms book back.

"Are you ready for Tuesday?" He asked.

"No," I said bluntly. "But I'll wing it. I normally do."

Viktor chuckled. "And you cannot use those vunderful powers you have, yes?"

"Yeah," I said. "I guess it's only fair."

Viktor shook his head. "I vouldn't say this do Professor Karkaroff but I think that they should let you use those powers. You are at a disadvantage being younger."

I shrugged. "I'm capable," I said. "At least I think I am."

Viktor smiled.

"Why were you running in the Forest?" I asked.

"I vos getting away from those girls that keep chasing me," Viktor said, shaking his head. "All they do is votch me train. I don't like it."

Then he nodded to me. "I believe you can understand. You do not like being famous, yes?"

I snorted. "Right you are."

"I vish a girl vould see me as Viktor Krum the Durmstrang student," Viktor said, making me look at him. "All they see me as is the Quidditch player. They von't like me for me."

I smiled, and patted his shoulder. "Be patient. You'll find a girl like that soon."

"I vos noticing," he said, "one."

"Who?" I asked, smirking. It was incredible how we were talking— like we were old friends rather than strangers.

"This girl," he said, looking out across the lake. "She has very frizzy hair. She is a Gryffindor. Very smart, from vot I can see. She does not see me as a Quidditch player. I don't think she votches Quidditch."

Only one person could have fit that description.

"That's my brother's best friend, Hermione Granger," I said with a grin. "You're right— she is very smart. And she does watch Quidditch— but only because of us. But she doesn't really understand it that well... she's scared of heights."

Viktor smiled. "She is very beautiful. I don't think she sees that."

"Who would have taken you for a romantic?" I asked, laughing lightly and making my book become a chair.

"No one knows me vell enough," he reiterated. "Everyone thinks I am tough and silent. In reality, I am soft."

He raised an eyebrow. "Now you. Vot happened that day with the pictures?"

I sighed. "I had a panic attack. I don't know why— bright lights really make me freak out. Then Rita had stuck me in a closet before...."

I decided there was no holding back.

"...and I'm distressed," I continued, making Viktor look more interested as I opened up. "My boyfriend— well.... ex boyfriend, George— he's been jealous for awhile now of Cedric, the other champion. We hit a bit of a rough patch this summer and he was being really controlling of who I could be friends with. He wouldn't really like me talking to Cedric but would be fine drooling over Fleur and chatting up other girls. It bothered me. Then when my name came out of the Goblet... he accused me of lying again and it was the last straw. I broke up with him. So I haven't been in a good place. I'm more emotional that I wish I was. So I—I haven't been all there."

Viktor nodded and laid back in the grass. "Vell this George boy is stupid. I vos observing you and Cedric after that article— you do not act like a couple."

"Exactly!" I said, laying back in the grass too, my hair forming a sort of ring around my head. "It's annoying and I can't believe he let that bother him."

"He must be insecure," Viktor deduced. "He must think Cedric vould be better for you."

"Well he's dumb," I said, rubbing my eyes. "I chose to date HIM. I-I suppose he thinks I deserve better, is what he said—"

"—that explains it," Viktor said simply. "In being afraid you'd leave him for someone better he became paranoid and ruined it for himself."

I hummed. "That makes sense." I turned to Viktor and smiled. "It was nice to have this chat."

"It vos nice," Viktor said. "I vould like to be friends, if that is okay with you."

"Of course," I said. "Listen— why don't you come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend? Hermione will be there."

Viktor raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes," I said. "I'm going with her, my biological brother, and my other one— George's little brother. The boys will like to meet you."

Viktor looked incredibly happy. "And you von't reveal I am soft?"

"Not unless you want me to," I said.

Viktor smiled. "I knew I could trust you vith that. I don't know, but I knew."

We both breathed deeply and closed our eyes.

"Can you show me your powers?" He asked.

"Sure," I said, concentrating and turning invisible.

Viktor raised an eyebrow as I became visible again. "How long can that last?"

"Good question," I said. "It's a bit like a switch really... I switch it on and it stays on until I tell it to turn off. I suppose if I wanted, it would last infinitely."

Viktor smiled. "Vot else?"

I looked him in the eyes and grinned. "I see you have a little cousin named Nikolai."

Viktor raised an eyebrow.

"I've been practicing!" I said happily. "Before I could onto read what was on a person's mind in the moment— but now I can search."

"Very impressive," Viktor said. "Another one."

I placed my hand on my stomach, palm up, and summoned a bowl of biscuits. I handed some to Viktor, which made him sit up and smile.

"Last vun," he said, noting I'd shown three. He'd added an extra finger for the immortality bit of it.

I shapeshifted into a small raccoon at first. When he nodded I became human, but with a mermaid tail. Then as I reverted my legs to normal I shifted myself to look just like Viktor. He was impressed.

"I vould believe you have been improving," Viktor said.

"I have," I said with a grin.

"That George boy really vould be dumb to let you escape him forever," Viktor said, making me raise an eyebrow. "He vould be."

________

The weekend before the task was, as I'm sure I mentioned, a Hogsmeade weekend.

After about a half hour of searching for Viktor in the very crowded entrance hall, I found him hiding behind a pillar and was able to lead him to the carriages, where we rode with two giggly first years to the Three Broomsticks.

When we arrived, Hermione had already reserved tables for us. We found her sitting with her box of 'spew' badges and a notebook while Ron and Harry played Wizard's Chess beside her.

"H-Harry!" Ron croaked as he saw us approaching. "B-Beth is with K-Krum!"

"This is my new friend Viktor," I chirped as I sat down across from my brother. Viktor smiled shyly to Hermione and sat down between her and I, casting her a gentlemanly smile. Hermione returned it, and I noticed her cheeks became slightly pink. Progress.

"Be polite," I said to Harry.

"Hi," he said in a bit of a high pitched voice, reaching his hand out.

"Hello," Viktor said, shaking his hand then Ron's. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you too!" Ron said excitedly, looking as though he'd just met the love of his life. "Wow— How did— wow..."

"Ron I told you yesterday we met at the lake," I said with a laugh.

"But this is REAL," Ron breathed.

"He is a fan," Viktor noticed. "Just like you said.

"Yes," I replied with a laugh. "They both are."

Hermione raised an eyebrow and blinked three times fast.

" _Alright, he's attractive_ ," she thought.

" _Knew you'd think so_ ," I replied as she giggled internally.

Soon after Harry and Ron began a very excited Quiddith conversation with Viktor while I tried to talk Hermione out of asking the villagers to join 'spew.' (In case you're wondering, yes, Viktor kept staring at her.)

"When are you going to give up on this?" I groaned as she argued for what must have been the millionth time that the villagers would help.

"When house elves have decent wages and working conditions!" Hermione hissed. "You know, I'm starting to think it's time for more direct action. I wonder how you get into the school kitchens."

"Ask Fred," I mumbled. "He'll know."

"Don't you know?" Hermione asked slyly.

"Of course I know," I said. "But I also know your motives... I don't fancy giving you any hints."

"Aw Beth don't be like that," Hermione said, pushing me lightly, which caught Viktor's attention.

"I'm good thanks."

"You're no fun," Hermione sighed. "Oh! There's Hagrid!"

I turned and saw that she was right. Behind him was, to my surprise, Mad Eye Moody.

"I didn't know they were friends," I said.

Moody and Hagrid came over a short while later.

"'Lo Beth," Hagrid said cheerily. "Harry! Ron! Hermione!"

"Hi Hagrid," we chorused.

Viktor waved slightly as Moody nodded to us.

Hagrid sat down next to me, between Hermione and I. He looked at me and blinked three times fast. Goodness knows how he knew that was the code.

" _Meet me at midnight at me the cabin. Come invisible_ ," he thought.

" _Alright_ ," I thought back. He smiled and got up, following Moody away from us. Hermione raised an eyebrow and I went into her mind to explain.

"You might be late for Sirius," she said quietly.

"I'll be fast," I said. "Harry can stall him."

That night at half past eleven, I snuck downstairs to the Common Room. I instructed Harry on what to tell Sirius if I somehow got back late and scurried down to Hagrid's Hut.

When I arrived I knocked light on Hagrid's door. Hagrid opened it and looked over me.

"Beth? You there?" He whispered.

"Yeah," I whispered.

"Got summat ter show yeh," Hagrid said, beginning to walk to the Beauxbatons carriage.

"Where are you—?"

It didn't need to be answered, because Hagrid walked to the door of the Beauxbatons carriage and knocked. Madame Maxime exited, asking if it was time. Time for what?

Hagrid and Madame Maxime began to walk with their giant steps into the Forbidden Forest. In my invisible form I had no trouble keeping up, but I had trouble understanding what was going on.

About halfway into the forest the air went still. Suddenly there was a giant roar, and I nearly slammed into Hagrid out of surprise.

He led Madame Maxime around a clump of trees and stopped.

Four enormous dragons were right in front of us, snarling at the wizards that were trying to contain them. There were about eight wizards per dragon, struggling to quench their rage and keep them from killing someone.

"Keep back there, Hagrid!" A wizard yelled. "They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know. I've seen this Horntail do forty!"

Stunning spells jetted out from the wands of the wizards, which hit one of the larger dragons and knocked it out.

"What breeds you got here, Charlie?" Hagrid asked.

I wanted to go hug Charlie as his familiar figure came closer, but I couldn't.

"This is the Hungarian Horntail," Charlie said, pointing at the dragon that had just been stunned. "That small one's a Common Welsh Green, the blue-gray a Swedish Snort Snout, and the red one is the Chinese Fireball."

Charlie then frowned at Hagrid. "I didn't know you were bringing her. The champions aren't supposed to know what's coning— she's bound to tell her student, isn't she?"

"Jus thought she'd like ter see 'em," Hagrid said with a shrug.

"Really romantic, Hagrid," Charlie said with a wince.

"Four..." Hagrid murmured. "So it's one fer each champion. What've they got to do, fight em?"

My heart skipped a beat.

"Just get past them, I think," Charlie said, which made me relax slightlg. "Dunno why they wanted nesting mothers. I don't envy whoever gets the Horntail though, vicious thing. Its back end's as dangerous as its front."

The subdued dragon's tail did indeed have several spikes protruding from it. I had a bad feeling I'd get that stupid dragon. Just my rotten luck.

"Well how's Beth?" Charlie asked.

"Fine," Hagrid said.

"Just hope she's still fine after she's faced this lot," Charlie said. "I didn't dare tell Mum what she's got to do for the first task, she's already having kittens about it—" he mimicked a high pitched voice that most certainly did not belong to Mrs Weasley— "' _How could they let her enter that tournament? She's much too young! I thought they were all safe— I thought there would be age restrictions_!' She was in floods after that Daily Prophet article about her— ' _She still cries about her parents- oh bless her, I never knew! No wonder it took her so long to call me 'Mum_ '...."

I felt saddened hearing that.

"I reckon Beth will be fine though," Charlie said, which was quite reassuring. "She's faced worse."

At the one of the other dragons spewed a large jet of fire. Nice.

I decided I'd seen enough. I began to sprint back out of the forest. I was worried I was going to be late to Sirius and even considered turning into a bird and flying straight to Gryffindor Tower but I didn't get to think much on the subject because I collided with a heavy object.

"Who's there?" Karkaroff's voice asked angrily. I were so quiet, a spider could've been heard sneezing.

I slowly got up and shifted into a form I'd never taken before, a ghost. It was an incredible feeling I couldn't explain but in the heat of the moment I couldn't appreciate it.

When I got to Gryffindor Tower I found Harry crouched over the fire.

"Beth!" Sirius said happily.

"Hi," I squeaked, rubbing my arms and sitting down beside Harry.

"Something wrong?" My godfather asked, poking his face in beside Sirius'.

I bit my lip.

"What did Hagrid show you?" Harry asked.

"Dragons," I said. "The first task is dragon."

"No!" Harry hissed.

"That's nothing," Sirius said confidently. "Dragons we can deal with."

"You'll be fine, Elizabeth," my godfather said. "You can handle a dragon."

I smiled wryly.

"Harry took the liberty of explaining your 'George' situation," Sirius added.

I looked at Harry and raised an eyebrow. He winced and shrugged.

"So I guess you know then," I huffed. "We broke up. It's whatever."

"He's ACTUALLY an arse," Sirius said. "Dunno why he got jealous."

"Let's not talk about that," I said hastily.

"Alright," my godfather said. "First order of business then— Karkaroff."

"What about him?" I asked.

"He was a Death Eater," Sirius said.

"He what?" Harry asked, looking at me.

"A Death Eater?" I asked in confusion. "REALLY?"

"Yes," Sirius said. "He was in Azkaban with me, but got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year—to keep an eye on him. Moody caught Karkaroff, and put him in Azkaban in the first place."

"Why did they release Karkaroff?" I asked. "I swear the Ministry gets dumber every day—"

"He did a deal with the Ministry," Sirius said. "Said he'd seen the errors of his ways, named named, put loads of other people in Azkaban in his place.

He's not too popular in there, I can tell you. Since he got out he's been teaching Dark Arts to every student that passes through that school of his. So watch out for the Durmstrang champion as well."

"Beth has already made friends with him," Harry said, looking perplexed.

"He's genuine," I said, ignoring the concerned looks on Sirius and my godfather's faces. "I think he's a good guy. Definitely nothing like Karkaroff."

"You still need to be very careful, considering," my godfather said softly.

"What, you think Karkaroff put my name in the Goblet?" I asked.

"Possibly," Sirius said.

"Oho," I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Well, if he DID, then he truly is an excellent actor— acting all hurt that it was unfair and... what a load of rat dung!"

"Well we don't know for sure," my godfather said.

"But you're not wrong," Sirius added. "He is indeed a very good actor. Convinced the Ministry of Magic to set him free, didn't he? No— about the Prophet—"

"Please, can we not talk about that?" I hissed. "I'd rather not—"

"It's not about the article she wrote about you," Sirius said. "I was reading between the lines of that Skeeter woman's article last month, Moody was attacked the night before he started at Hogwarts. Yes I know she says it was another false alarm but I don't think so. I think someone tried to stop him from getting to Hogwarts. I think someone knew their job would be more difficult with him around."

"Well," I said, "I remember I did see Mr Diggory talking about it with Mr Weasley the morning we left. It did seem rather suspicious to me."

"Pay attention to as many details as you can," Sirius said. "No one will look into it closely since Mad Eye's heard intruders a bit too often. That of course doesn't mean he can't spot the real thing— he was the best Auror the Ministry ever had."

"I couldn't read his mind," I said bluntly.

"Most Aurors train their minds to be impenetrable," my godfather said. "I wouldn't worry too much about that."

"Hold on a second," I said. "So— so aside from that you're expecting I'm in danger of being murdered?"

"We knew that Voldemort would begin to target you when he discovered you had powers," my godfather said. "This, Dumbledore discussed with you already. It seems the Death Eaters are recruiting again. They're more active— you surely remember the Dark Mark at the World Cup."

"Wait a second," I repeated. "So what I'm understanding here is that the Death Eaters are mobilized and targeting me and this tournament is indeed set up to get me killed?"

Sirius and my godfather exchanged grim looks.

"Lovely," I sighed. "But—"

"We'll address it in a minute," Sirius said, holding his hand up. "Back to Karkaroff. Now, he doesn't strike me as the type who'd go back to Voldemort unless he knew Voldemort was powerful enough to protect him. So it might be irrational to even worry about him. But whoever put your name in that goblet did it for a reason, and I can't help thinking the tournament would be a very good way to attack you and make it look like an accident."

"Looks like a good plan from where I'm standing," Harry said grimly. "They'll just have to stand back and let the dragons do their stuff to Beth."

"Oh that's not concerning, we mentioned that," my godfather said. He looked directly at me. "Your strongest weapon there is your ability to deceive. You are one of the strongest Transfiguration students in awhile, based on your ability to skip ahead a level. If you practice that you should be fine."

"Alright," I said.

"Don't be tempted to try a Stunning Spell," Sirius added, "because dragons are strong and too powerfully magical to be knocked out by a single Stunner, you need about half a dozen wizards to overcome a dragon—"

"I saw that," I said.

"You just need a simple spell," my godfather cut in. "You'll be fine."

"Someone's coming," Harry said suddenly, leaping up.

"Thank you," I said hastily to Sirius and my godfather. "Hope you're good."

They nodded and their heads disappeared from the fire.

I heard the footsteps coming closer, then nothing.

"Maybe it wasn't anyone," Harry said, gathering his things. "You going to bed?"

"Soon," I said. "Goodnight."

He smiled and pulled me in for a hug, kissing my forehead.

"Sleep well, Beth," Harry said, heading upstairs.

I mumbled a brief "you too" and stared back at the fire.

It had been only minutes since Harry's departure when I heard footsteps again. I thought perhaps he came back to talk but the footsteps were too heavy.

I turned as I heard them stop at the foot of the stairs.

It was George.

I pursed my lips and looked back at the fire, prodding it with a stick as it crackled.

"So now you're with Krum?"

I turned nastily to George and stood up, honestly without any idea what I was going to say.

"You need to cut the crap right now," I snarled. "Pour some Veritaserum down my throat if you don't believe me. There is NOTHING going on between Cedric and I or between Viktor and I, for that matter. You are the biggest jealous prick ever and I can't believe you of all people can't trust me. It hurts me to think that you, my best friend, considers me a liar."

His expression dropped. He looked... sad.

"Beth—" he began.

"No," I hissed, holding my hand up. "You hurt me. By losing your trust in me— or however the hell that came about— you hurt me. And I can't just hear you out because you didn't hear me out. You didn't trust me when you should've. Give me one good reason why I should even listen to what you have to say."

I stared fiercely at him.

His jaw twitched. I had no way of knowing if he was going to say something worthwhile or not.

"I have never made a greater mistake," he said quietly. "And I'll probably spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I felt you deserved better. And I let you slip between my grasp. It's fine if you don't forgive me. I'll give you time to consider it. But I am, truly, sorry."

I was so taken aback I didn't react to it until he had turned and left, his last words lingering behind him.

"And I'm still in love with you."


	39. Chapter 39

As soon as I saw Cedric the next day I pulled him aside and told him about the meeting with Sirius. Then we'd moved on to happier (not really) topics.

"Dragons," I hissed, making his eyebrow raise.

"What?" He asked.

"The first task is frickin' dragons!" I said, tightening my grip on my book bag.

"Ah," he said, giving me a curious look. "And you know... how?"

"Not important," I said, not wanting to give Hagrid a reason to be fired. "But it's dragons, I swear on Merlin's grave."

"We're screwed," Cedric said pleasantly. "We don't have to slay them, do we?"

"I mean I don't think so," I said, pushing my hair over my head. "I think we have to get past it. Who knows why."

"Well then," he said. "Thank you."

Then he cocked his head.

"We ARE opponents on the field, you know that, right?" He asked. "Just cause we're friends in real life—"

"Don't be stupid," I said, smacking his shoulder. "I'd have told you even if we were enemies. Madam Maxime and Karkaroff both saw them— you'd best believe Fleur and Viktor will know by now."

"Slimy git, that Karkaroff," Cedric huffed. "What you told me about the conversation with Sirius makes sense. I-I dunno if you should trust Viktor."

"I will trust him," I said. "Because I know who I can and cannot trust. I read his mind. He doesn't have any intention to hurt me."

"Can't you only read what they're thinking in the moment?" Cedric asked.

I stared directly at him.

"Cedric Diggory, your earliest memory is from when you were five years old and your father tickled you so much you made a small burst of magic that sent him skidding backwards and knocked your mother down," I recited, making him raise an eyebrow. "Your mother has told you countless times that she smiles at that memory."

"Very good," Cedric said. "But not entirely true— my COUSIN was tickling me."

"Wrong," I said automatically. "You think it was your cousin because your father can't remember the incident, and a cousin does, so your mind replaced them. But I can see the real memory."

Cedric was taken aback. "So what does this mean for you, Beth?"

"It means I'm getting stronger," I said, looking at my hands. "I've improved in nearly everything. I can turn Invisible for longer periods of time. I can look through minds and view memories. I can shape shift in pieces now, change the littlest aspects I'd like. I can summon things wherever I want and control how they land."

"Doesn't that make you weaker?" Cedric asked. "I mean that in terms of the whole 'sacrificing yourself' thing."

"I guess so," I said. "My theory is that now I'd die a lot easier. The stronger I get the greater my weakness."

Cedric let out a deep breath. "Wow. That's crazy. I don't want you to die."

"I want to die sometimes," I said with a shrug. "Those days when I fail a test."

"Do we need to put you on suicide watch?" Cedric asked.

"No! I'm just being silly and think my life is over when I fail a test it's a thing that happens when you CARE about school."

"Oh. Well, no wonder I don't really know how that feels like," Cedric said with a grin. "So when was the last time you really wanted to die?"

"When I got an A on my Charms test," I said miserably.

"Ah," Cedric said, smirking. "I got a A on that OWL for that one and I REALLY wanted to die. How about we have a joint funeral? We can have two caskets next to each other. Go like friends."

"That'd be sweet," I said. "We have to die together, then."

"Perfect," Cedric said, very seriously.

"It's agreed then we'll just stay friends til we die?" I laughed as we began to head to the library.

"Yes," Cedric said. "Friends til we die."

I burst out laughing again.

"What?" Cedric asked with a smirk.

"It's silly," I said. "We can't control when we die."

"Well no," Cedric said. "But we can control how long we're friends." He lifted his hand in a salute, then dropped his palm to cover his heart. "I solemnly swear to be your friend til my dying breath, Elizabeth Potter."

I put my hand on my chest and shook my head, smiling. "And I solemnly swear to be your friend til my dying breath, Cedric Diggory."

He smiled and opened the door to the library.

"Speaking of solemnly swearing," he said, raising an eyebrow at me, "how's George?"

"Oh!" I shrieked. "I didn't even TELL you— bloody hell— after Sirius' conversation last night he came and apologized to me!"

"Did he really?" Cedric asked as he took a seat and set his books out. "Interesting."

"He said it was his biggest mistake," I said. "He said I deserved better and he let me slip between his grasp."

"Sounds like he's actually trying to be your friend again," Cedric said. Then he frowned. "Be real with me, Beth, if he asked to be friends again would you say yes?"

"Of course," I said. "I miss his friendship. But I would not be his girlfriend again. Not yet. I can't trust him anymore. He's going to need to earn my trust again if he expects us to start a relationship again."

Cedric smiled. "Then you'll be happy to hear the conversation I overheard this morning."

"Oh?" I asked.

"He wants to be friends again," Cedric said. "This morning in Defense Against the Dark Arts Fred and Lee were talking to him and George mentioned the thing with the mirror and how he was having doubts about it—"

"What's the mirror thing?" I asked urgently.

"You don't get to find out yet," Cedric insisted.

"Prat!" I hissed, smacking his shoulder. Cedric grinned.

"Anyway he was having doubts," Cedric said. "About himself, and how it all tied together. He mentioned that— how he thought you deserved a better boyfriend and how he was scared YOU might realize that and want to go with someone else. So yeah it was irrational for him to be jealous but THAT'S why."

"Okay, continue," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well so he kind of became convinced you were cheating," Cedric said. "Because he was so paranoid that you would. It was a little reality shift for him."

"Well that's a shit excuse," I sighed. "But whatever. Er— I guess I'd be friends with him again. He better tell me all that and convince me that I don't need to worry about him trusting me. Otherwise I will never trust him again."

"Good," Cedric said, nodding happily. "Be firm."

"I will be," I said, smirking. "Trust me."

_______

The day of the task I woke up and found that Batavia and Katie had set up a banner that read 'good luck Beth!' on the wall. I smiled as I climbed out of bed and got dressed.

I found Cedric downstairs, having breakfast with Fleur and Krum already.

"Good morning!" He chirped, patting the seat next to him.

"Hi," I said warmly to everyone.

"'Ello," Fleur said with a smile. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," I said as I sat down and took a bite out of the french toast Cedric had served for me.

"I vos vundering," Viktor said, looking at me, "do you think Hermyowninny vill vant to go to the Yule Ball vith me?"

"Yule Ball?" I spluttered.

"Oh!" Fleur giggled. "She 'as no idea!" She turned to me. "Zere will be a Yule Ball after ze first task!" She said excitedly. "We 'ave to get dates and everyzing!"

"Oh Merlin," I said, smiling cheekily at Cedric. "Guess who's not going to be able to find a date?"

"Cedric, probably," Viktor teased. "He vos saying how he cannot ask this girl he fancies to go to Hogsmeade with him."

"I'm working on it," Cedric insisted.

"You HAVE to ask her!" I said. "It's the opportunity of a lifetime!"

Cedric blushed.

"Ah!" Fleur giggled. "'E has an 'opeless crush, 'as he not?"

"Kinda does," I said. "Cho Chang...."

"Shh!" Cedric hissed as a Ravenclaw girl walked by.

"Choo Chaaaang," I cooed, making him shove the french toast in my mouth.

"So 'as your situation with zat Weasley boy been resolved?" Fleur asked, carefully buttering herself some toast.

"He has yet to discuss us being friends again," I said, which made Fleur let out a short, mirthless laugh. "But it's getting there."

"Zat family makes very 'andsome boys," Fleur said bluntly. "I 'ave always liked zose red 'eaded boys."

"You're in luck," I said. "They have more brothers— older ones."

"Hmm," Fleur said, smiling. "You will 'ave to introduce me."

"I think they'll come to watch the tasks with their Mum if I live past this one," I said. "I'll introduce you then."

"You VILL live past this one," Viktor said. "Ve all vill. I know that."

"It won't be easy, non," Fleur sighed, picking at her nails, "but I agree. I 'ave complete confidence zat we will all be alive tomorrow."

"Gee thanks," I said. "Ah— time for us to head over."

Fleur got up first and headed out without waiting for us.

"She was trying to figure out if we knew about the task," Cedric said smartly as we finished eating.

"I could tell," I said. "She seems confident that we don't know. Maybe that's a good thing."

When Viktor finished the enormous steak he'd started, we all headed over to the champion's tent. Fleur was inside, lounging on the bed, braiding bits of her hair.

That's when the nervous feeling in my stomach REALLY hit me.

"Ah," I said, turning to Cedric with a wince, "we really are about to do this."

"You'll be fine," he insisted, putting his arms around me just as Bagman trotted into the tent.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything!" He chirped, making Cedric and I spring apart.

"Just nerves," Cedric said flatly.

"Nothing to be ashamed of!" Bagman said. "Now— we're all here— time to fill you in!"

Fleur and Viktor stepped closer to where Cedric and I were standing. We'd formed an odd circle around Bagman, who looked about a thousand times more excited than all of us put together.

"When the audience has assembles, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag," Bagman said, holding up a small purple silk sack and shaking it, "from which you will select a small model of the thing you are about to face. There are different— er— varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too... ah, yes... your task is to collect the golden egg."

Fleur remained emotionless, and went back to sit down where she'd been resting. She looked like she was deep in thought.

Viktor had blinked, I'm pretty sure.

Cedric had nodded his head a little too excitedly and then looked at me. I nodded too, and Bagman grinned then walked out of the tent.

"An egg," Cedric said, pulling me aside. "Alright, you did say that they mentioned wanting nesting mothers. Well... okay."

"You'll be fine," I said. "You always come up with good ideas in the heat of the moment."

"Hey," Cedric said, putting his hands on my shoulders, "you're going to be fine too. I know you will."

I shivered and winced.

"I feel like I'm going to have another panic attack but I don't want to let myself," I whispered.

Cedric wrapped his arms around me again, pressing my head to his chest. He rubbed my back and breathed deeply. I could feel his heart hammering inside his chest. He was just as nervous as I was, except he couldn't show it.

We didn't break apart until Bagman returned, looking just as excited as ever.

"Alright!" He said, taking the bag to Fleur. "Ladies first!"

Fleur's hand was trembling as she reached into the bag. She gulped as she pulled out a tiny model of a dragon— a Welsh Green. The number two hung around its neck from a string. She didn't seem surprised, which made Cedric nod at me. She had definitely known we'd be facing dragons today.

Bagman brought the bag (Merlin that sounds awkward to say) to me next. I dipped my hand inside, my chest tightening. I felt the models nipping my fingertips and winced as I closed my hand around one that was hurting my skin. I pulled it out and my stomach dropped into the pit of my abdomen.

The Hungarian Horntail.

It stretched its little wings and shook its head slightly, making the number four around its neck twirl around the string it was attached to.

Cedric shot me a look as he reached into the bag. He got the Swedish Short Snout with the number one around its neck.

Viktor was last. He took the only dragon left, the Chinese Fireball, the number three hanging from it.

"Well there you are!" Bagman said pleasantly. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the number refers to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now I'm going yo have to leave you in a moment because I'm commentating. Er— officially I must say this, Miss Potter remember no using your powers."

I nodded reluctantly, my fingers tapping anxiously against my leg.

"Now Mr Diggory," Bagman said, turning to Cedric, "you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now Elizabeth— a quick word outside?"

"Sure," I squeaked, looking at Cedric before Bagman grabbed my arm and tugged me out of the tent.

"Feeling all right, Elizabeth?" Bagman asked urgently.

"Nervous," I said bluntly.

"That's all right!" Bagman said. "Anything I can get you?"

"Er— no."

"Got a plan?" Bagman asked, his voice significantly quieter than before. "Because I don't mind sharing a few pointers, if you'd like them, you know what I mean. You're the underdog here, Elizabeth.... anything I can fo to help..."

I shook my head and took a step back.

"I don't cheat," I said, the words making my mouth dry. "No. I-I know what I'm going to do, thanks."

"Nobody would KNOW, Elizabeth," Bagman said with a wink.

"I have a general idea," I said. "I'm fine. I don't need your help."

"Alright," Bagman said. "Got to run, then!"

Without another word he left.

I quickly entered the tent and went to Cedric, who was pacing nervously.

"Hey, look at me," I said, standing in front of him. It made him open his eyes.

"What?" He asked quietly.

"You can do this," I said. "You've had enough training for this. You'll know what to do when you get in there. Do your best, believe in yourself. It's just a Quidditch match.... to the next level."

Cedric laughed and hugged me again, breathing so deeply his entire body shivered.

"Once you get past this dragon you'll be brave enough to ask Cho out," I said matter of factly.

The whistle blew.

Cedric cocked an eyebrow at me and shook my head. "Whatever you say."

Then he left into the enclosure.

Let me just say it was the worst thing to have to sit back and listen to Bagman's commentary while Cedric was in there.

"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow!" Was the first thing Bagman said, which was accompanied by some screams in the crowd. "He's taking risks, this one! CLEVER move there— pity it didn't work."

After about fifteen minutes of agony and Fleur scoffing and covering her ears repeatedly, the dragon gave a defeaning roar. It had to have meant Cedric got the egg.

"Very good indeed!" Bagman said. "And now the marks from the judges!"

He unfortunately didn't shout what the marks were, so I assumed the judges must be holding them up.

"One down, three to go!" Bagman called. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"

"Good luck," I said, offering Fleur a small smile as she passed. She grimaced back and went into the enclosure.

"You are very nervous," Viktor noticed, coming to sit next to me. "But you vould rather not show it."

"I don't want to be the weakest one," I said. "Besides I needed to encourage Cedric and Fleur. YOU don't seem nervous."

"I am," Viktor said with a shrug. "But I can't change the fact I'm here. I have to suck it up."

"Ah," I said as Bagman let out a loud "Oooh!" Followed by a loud cry from the audience.

"She vill be fine," Viktor said. "And so vill I, and so vill you."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I can tell," Viktor said. "Ve all have the makings of a champion. Even you, being the littlest. You are not at as much of a disadvantage as you think. You are very intelligent."

"Thanks," I said, feeling slightly more confident. "How can you stay so optimistic?"

"I remind myself this is probably not the vorse I will experience in life," Viktor said. "I know that I can get past vatever I am up against because my life vill throw more my vay."

"Nice mentality," I said. "I bet Hermione will adore your logic."

"Are you making fun of me?" Viktor asked quizzically.

"No," I said truthfully. "She'd like what you said. She might even ask you to be the vice president of spew."

Viktor laughed. "I think vat she is doing is kind. I don't think anyone has ever cared so much. It von't vurk, I know that, but it is vorth a try and she is good for trying."

I smirked. "That's our Hermione."

Then I cocked my head to the side. "You REALLY will ask her to this Yule Ball thing?"

"I think I vill," Viktor said honestly, nodding his head for the effect. "There is no one I vould rather go with."

I smiled. "Well let me know if I can help."

"Likevise," Viktor said with a grin. "I vunder if that Weasley boy vill ask you."

"I doubt it," I said as we heard Fleur finish her task. "I sincerely doubt it."

The whistle blew. Viktor patted my head as he left to the paddock.

I was alone now.

I took a deep breath. And another.

Viktor was right. This— this was nothing. I was Elizabeth Potter. Sister to the Boy Who Lived Potter. Faced Voldemort twice Potter. This was definitely NOT the worst my life would get and definitely NOT the most dangerous thing I would ever encounter.

I just had to make it past this.

It felt like an eternity before I got called up.

"And last but not least, Miss Potter!"

The roar from the crowd willed me to stand up. I stepped into the paddock as the whistle blew, twirling my wand between my fingers.

No powers. No mind reading. No turning invisible. No shape shifting. No summoning.

If I was mortally injured I'd live anyway, so no need to worry about that.

But no powers. None.

It was going to be difficult to adjust since I'd always had them. But I had to this time. My success depended on it.

The doors of the paddock lifted.

I was in some sort of pit. A large, very deep pit compared to where the crowd was seated in the stands above. There were rocks all over the place, and I couldn't see the dragon yet.

Before I took a single step I looked up at the audience. A nice mix of red was near the right wing of the stadium, and I could make out the face of my brother, Hermione, and Ron sitting near the very front. Batavia, Bixby, and Katie were a few rows behind them. Behind THEM were Fred, Angelina, Lee, Alicia, and to my surprise... George.

I nodded. I took one step forward and immediately felt the rumble between my feet.

I managed to dive to the side to avoid the enormous column of fire as it was shot my way. My shoulder was scorched in the process but that was the least of my worries. The dragon had seen me.

It bellowed and moved to where I was, spewing flames hotter than anything I'd ever felt in my life. I leapt behind a large rock and raised my wand.

I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I suppose I might have prepared something when I found out I'd be facing a dragon but I hadn't.

Peeking around the rock I saw the egg. It was near the middle of the pit and I could get to it if I broke into a sprint, but not without the dragon seeing me first.

I needed a distraction.

The idea came into my head. It was risky and it might not work, but I had to try it, because it might be the only thing that could clear my path.

I leaned forward so just my head and my wand were away from the protection of the rock. Looking at the large boulder over to the other end of the pit, directly across from where I was, I concentrated with all my might and slashed my wand through the air.

The boulder rumbled, catching the dragon's attention. For a terrible moment I thought my Transfiguration hadn't worked and that I might need to rethink an entire plan, but then—

The boulder shrunk, transforming into an exact replica of the egg in the center of the pit.

The dragon took the bait, but I knew it wouldn't last long unless I did something else. It had looked at the egg I'd made, but was already turning back to its real egg.

When it wasn't looking I moved out from behind the rock and pointed my wand at its head, yelling with all my might "Confundus!"

The spell hit the dragon. It was still for a minute. Then it looked away from its real egg and turned to the fake egg. It began hobbling over to the fake egg, almost as if that was the real one.

"Incredibly clever!" Bagman roared into the microphone as I climbed onto the next rock layer and sprinted with all my might to the center of the pit. The dragon was so confused it didn't even turn around because I'd succeeded in making it believe that the egg I was chasing wasn't real.

The crowd exploded into cheers as I picked up the real egg and held it over my head.

"Look at that!" Bagman roared. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get her egg! And she has hardly any injury! Well this is going to shorten the odds on Miss Potter!"

I stepped out of the arena and back into the paddock and was immediately ambushed by Professor McGonagall.

"That was excellent, Potter!" She cried. "Absolutely incredible! Some of the best Transfiguration I have seen! Now— you'll need to go see Madam Pomfrey before the judges give out your score... over there, she's had to mop up Diggory already..."

"Thanks!" I said, adrenaline bursting through my veins as I walked onward and came across Hagrid, who hugged me tightly.

"Yeh did it, Beth!" He said hoarsely. "Yeh did it! An' agains' the Horntail an' all, an' yeh know Charlie said that was the wors'—"

"Thanks Hagrid!" I said rather loudly before he revealed he'd shown me the dragons.

Beside him was Professor Moody. He nodded to me. "Nice and easy does the trick, Potter!"

I smiled and walked past him to the tent, where I found Cedric laying down with several ointments having been applied to the burns on his skin.

"Dragons!" Madam Pomfrey huffed as I sat down next to Cedric. "Last year dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next? You're very lucky... this burn is quite shallow... it'll need cleaning before I heal it up, though...."

"I heard it all!" Cedric said happily. "You got it the fastest! What did you do?"

"I didn't think it would work," I said honestly, "but I transfigured a boulder into an egg and confunded the dragon into thinking that was the real one."

"Brilliant!" Cedric said, smacking his forehead. "And here I turned a rock into a dog as a decoy— it didn't really work but I still got the egg!"

I smiled and hugged him, ruffling his hair.

"You may go back, Miss Potter!" Madam Pomfrey said.

I waved a quick goodbye to Cedric and sprinted out to get my scores.

I found Batavia, Bixby, and Katie waiting for me. They ambushed me with hugs and various screams of congratulations.

"No bloody WONDER they moved you up a level in Transfiguration!" Bixby said. "That was AWESOME!"

"You did so good!" Katie squealed. "I'm so proud!"

"Thanks for watching," I said as Batavia twirled me around.

"Now your scores!" She said. "It's marks out of ten."

I turned to Madame Maxime. She waved her wand to draw a silvery 8.

"Not bad!" Bixby said said. "I suppose she took marks off for your arm..."

"I suppose," I said.

Next was Dumbledore. He gave me a 9.

"Well deserved!" Katie sighed.

Barty Crouch also gave me a 9.

"That's brilliant!" Katie said, hugging onto me. "Really really good..."

Bagman gave me a 10.

"Don't complain," Batavia said quickly, squealing along with Katie.

Karkaroff shot up a 4.

"Four?" Bixby snarled. "He gave Krum a ten!"

"Whatever!" I said, looking up at the scoreboard. "Viktor and I are tied for first place!"

"Would you look at that!" Batavia said. "And they underestimated you! And— AND you didn't even use your powers!"

"I'd have summoned the egg in under a second if I could," I said with a laugh as they led me away from the judges. From the stands, Hermione, Ron, and Harry came to greet me.

"Great job, Beth!" Ron said as Hermione threw her arms around me.

"I was so worried!" She cried. "But you were fine— you did so good!"

"Thanks Hermione," I said, patting her back.

Next, Harry hugged me.

"I'm do glad you didn't die," he said.

"Don't be silly a dragon can't kill me," I said. "They're my very best friends."

"I thought WE were your very best friends."

I turned around and sighed happily as Fred and Angelina pulled me into a group hug. Then Lee and Alicia joined in.

"Thanks for coming!" I said.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world!" Alicia said. "Wow... I wish I could do Transfiguration like that!"

"We can call you a Transfiguration Queen now," Fred said, ruffling my hair as they released me from the hug.

George, who was standing behind them, looked straight at me.

Before I could say anything, there was a tap on my shoulder.

"Charlie!" I cried, hugging him when I turned around.

"Really, really good work!" He said. "So very proud of my little sister! Now I've got to run— got to go and send Mum and owl about it! I swore I'd tell her everything that happened. Also— they told me to tell you that you've got to hang around for a few more minutes. Bagman wants a word back in the champions tent."

"Oh alright," I said as Charlie tugged at my arm to lead me to the tent. When we arrived he waved and departed.

I sat next to Cedric as Bagman came forward.

"Well done, all of you!" He said happily. "Now, just a quick word. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty fourth. We're going to give you something to think about in the meantime. If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you'll see that they open. See the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg because it will tell you what the second task is and enable you to prepare for it. All clear? Sure? Well off you go, then!"

"I'm going to go greet my parents," Cedric said, waving and leaving the tent.

I nodded then headed back outside, where I found only George waiting for me.

"Can we talk?" He asked, coming closer.

"Sure," I said. "Let's—"

"Congratulations, Elizabeth!" Rita Skeeter trilled, coming up in front of us, her cameraman behind her. "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How do you feel now, about the fairness of the scoring."

I looked at her, perplexed. Then I became serious.

"Yeah, you can have a word," I said savagely. "Good-bye."

I then grabbed George's hand and led him away to the back of the tent, where there was no one to disturb us.

"What's up?" I asked softly.

"I was an idiot," George said immediately. "A colossal idiot. I let my paranoia override me and make me be irrationally jealous. It made me forget that you had never broken my trust. It was so overwhelming I even accused you of lying. I can't believe I would ever do that and I need you to know how sorry I am that it got to that point. You're not a liar, you've never been one, and you're also not a cheater. I believe you didn't and would never cheat. And this one took me longer but I understand now there's no way you purposely entered this tournament and hoodwinked the Goblet of fire. I don't think I can apologize enough for it. Like I said before— you don't have to forgive me, I won't make you. And I will do everything to make you trust me again, although if you can't then I won't be angry about it. I'm so sorry."

I pursed my lips.

"Thank you," I said simply. "For apologizing. Recognizing you made a mistake."

"I solemnly swear it will never happen again," George said, taking a step closer. "Can we just... be friends again? I-I miss my best friend."

My lips curled into a smile.

"I missed my best friend too," I whispered. "And... yes. But you're right. You need to earn my trust."

George nodded his head vigorously.

"And another thing," I said, looking up at him. "If you ever expect us to date again you better show me you can trust me too, without me needing to beg it of you. It won't... it won't happen anytime soon. If you'll wait to build that trust then I'll reconsider."

George looked surprise. "Y-You'd really date me again if I improved myself?"

"Of course I would," I said quietly. "Because I'm still in love with you too."

George grinned stupidly. "R-Really?"

"Yes dummy," I sighed, pulling him in for a hug. "Never hurt me like that again or you're going to lose me."

"I will never ever lose you again," George whispered, wrapping his arms tightly around me. "I'm sorry."

I smiled and closed my eyes, resting my head against his chest.

I'd forgotten how good it felt.


	40. Chapter 40

"A toast! To Elizabeth Potter!"

I covered my face as all of Gryffindor house raised their glasses in a toast.

"Never seen anything like it!" Lee chirped.

"Transfiguration at its finest!" Fred added.

"The next Dumbledore!" George finished.

"Oh stop it," I said, blushing. "I-I literally just pulled it out of my ass, really—"

"When that idea you pulled out of your ass got you tied for first with Krum of all people!" Angelina said. "Be proud!"

"Yes!" Batavia shrieked, taking a long sip of Butterbeer. "It means more parties for us!"

"Oh well in that case," I said, laughing.

"Blimey this is HEAVY!" Lee said, taking the golden egg from me.

"You should open it," Fred said, taking it. "Maybe there's food in here too."

"Oh that's absurd," I said. "Besides I'm supposed to work the clue out on my own."

"Well we won't help you solve it," George said, making me laugh.

"Fine," I said as he handed me the egg. I pressed my finger on the clasp and opened it.

There was nothing inside the egg. Nothing of value, anyway.

However, the sound that emitted from it was downright awful— it sounded like a very high pitched screechy wailing mixed with someone scratching a chalkboard with their fingernails.

"SHUT IT!" George yelled loudly, covering his ears. I immediately closed the egg and dropped it onto the couch. The entire Common Room had their hands over their ears, and were wincing heavily.

"What WAS that?" Bixby asked.

"Sounded like a banshee!" Katie said. "Maybe you've got to get past one of those next!"

"But that's not even that dangerous," I said. "That'd be dumb."

"Sounded like someone being tortured!" Neville Longbottom said, his face very pale. "You're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"

"Don't be a prat, Neville, that's illegal," George said, making me laugh as he put his arm around me. "They wouldn't use that curse on the champions. It sounded a bit like Percy singing, maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower, Beth."

"I'm not trying to do that again," I said, shivering. "Remember when we were six and we put a spider in the bathtub?"

"Good times," George said with a smirk. "Never heard him scream louder."

"We had a bit of an obsession with spiders back in the day," I noted.

"Which is why Ron has anxiety now," Fred added, placing a food tray in front of George and I.

I took some pastries from it and popped it in my mouth.

Neville reached his hand over and grabbed a custard cream.

"Wait til you see this," George said as Neville popped the custard into his mouth. "It's going to be funny—"

Neville heard thus and spat the custard cream out, looking at George with wide eyes.

"He's joking, Neville," Fred said with a grin.

"Did you get all these from the kitchen, Fred?" Hermione asked, pointing at the jam tarts he was holding.

"Yep," Fred said. He put on a high pitched voice to imitate a house elf— "'anything we can get you, sir, anything at all!' They're dead helpful...get me a roast ox if I said I was peckish."

"They're dears," I agreed.

"Oh, how do you get in there?" Hermione asked innocently.

I raised my eyebrow at her. "Fred, don't—"

"Easy," Fred said, not having heard me. "Concealed door behind a painting of a bowl of fruit. Just tickle the pear, and it giggles and—" He stopped and looked at me, then at Hermione, his eyes narrowing. "Why?"

"No reason," Hermione said, taking a jam tart and smiling cheekily.

"Going to try and lead the house elves out on strike now, are you?" George asked. "Going to give up all the leaflet stuff and try and stir them up into rebellion?"

"Basically," I said, sipping some Butterbeer. Hermione frowned.

"Don't you go upsetting them and telling them they've got to take clothes and salaries!" Fred added. "You'll put them off their cooking."

"Oh I won't," Hermione said, rolling her eyes and walking away.

"Well some people like what she's doing," I said.

"Really?" George asked. "Who?"

"Someone who fancies Hermione," I said, smirking.

"Oh really?" George asked, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting."

"He thinks what she's doing is kind," I confirmed. "I think he's sweet for saying so. I reckon he's the only one who thinks it."

"Not trying to be rude but what she's doing won't amount to anything," George shrugged. "I dunno why—"

His sentence was left unfinished. Neville had suddenly doubled over and turned into a large canary. I burst out laughing so hard that I had to lean on George to keep myself from falling.

"Ah!" I shrieked as I closed my eyes tightly and laughed. "He-He's actually a canary!"

"Sorry Neville!" Fred said. "I forgot it WAS the custard creams we hexed!"

Neville resumed to normal immediately after, his feathers falling off. He looked a bit shaken up.

"Canary Creams!" George announced, holding up the platter of custard creams. "Fred and I invented them— seven Sickles each, a bargain!"

"Brilliant," I said as quite a few Gryffindors began to line up to purchase them.

"You just wait," George said, grinning like a maniac. "Mum will realize we CAN make a business out of this. I bet we'll even have a shop after we get some money!"

_______

December came sooner than any of us could have expected.

I hadn't really paid attention to how fast school was passing. My classes were exhausting, and I had bene procrastinating figuring out the egg clue in order to actually get my assignments done.

Professor McGonagall was worried about it all. She thought I should opt for taking the OWLs in the summer rather than after the second task, but I just wanted to get it over with. I was studying hard since now and preparing my study guides for the upcoming months. George reckons I'm crazy.

"You really ARE mad," George mentioned as we were brewing in potions. I rolled my eyes and continued chopping my roots.

"Aren't we ALL mad?" I asked, tossing my roots into the solution. I stirred it clockwise and then counterclockwise, making it a brilliant pink.

"How do you even do that?" Cedric asked, peeking over and wincing.

"She's mad, is what," George piped up, stirring the potion so carefully it was funny.

"I just KNOW," I said. "I do."

The bell rang. I happily poured my potion into a flask and took it to Snape.

"Well I need to stay after class and finish this," George sighed.

"I'll stay with you," I said. "We can head to McGonagall's little pep talk thing together."

George smiled. Cedric said goodbye and left, tucking his books under his arm.

"I'm glad you two are friends now," I said, sitting on the stool as I waited for George to finish.

"He's a cool bloke," George said with a shrug. "And yeah... er... again, I was rather stupid— you guys act like siblings more than anything."

"Told you," I said in a sing song voice as he smirked and poured some of his potion into a flask.

As he took it up to Snape I cleaned out his cauldron and tucked it under the desk, fixing his bag for him. When he came back I handed it to him and together we walked to the Transfiguration classroom for whatever McGonagall wanted to tell us.

"Sit down, quickly, quickly," McGonagall urged, waving her hand at us as we entered.

We took a seat behind Fred and Angelina, and beside Lee, who was rushing to finish the homework due next period.

"Potter! Weasley! Will you pay attention?" McGonagall asked sharply.

George and I looked up indignantly since we hadn't been doing anything, but then saw she was reprimanding Harry and Ron for sword fighting with some of the twins' fake wands.

"Blimey," George said. "I really thought she was getting us in trouble for no reason at all."

"Me too," I said as I laughed.

"Now that Potter and Weasley have been kind enough to act their age," McGonagall said, looking at them. "I have something to say to you all."

"Yule Ball," George said immediately. "Five Sickles."

"The Yule Ball is approaching!" McGonagall said, making me groan as I reached into my pocket and slapped five Sickles into George's waiting palm. "It's a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above- although you may invite a younger student if you wish—"

A fourth year girl giggled so loudly that her friend had to nudge her in the ribs to shut her up. I noticed both girls looked at Harry, who looked at me and mouthed "help." I smirked. My baby brother was already pulling girls.

"Dress robes will be worn," McGonagall said. "And the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then—"

She looked at all of us for a few moments. Batavia and Katie were giggling excitedly along with the fourth year girls, and were discussing their dress robes.

"The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to— er— let our hair down," McGonagall said, making Bixby raise his eyebrows and the fourth year girl snort.

"BUT that does not mean," McGonagall continued, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student embarrasses the school in any way."

The classroom exploded into conversation as McGonagall finished talking.

"I'm not going," I said immediately. "I don't want to wear dress robes."

"Me neither," George said, scrunching up his nose. "Hey— reckon we can have a party in the Common Room instead?"

"I hope so!" I said. "That'll be—"

"Potter! A word if you please," McGonagall called.

Harry looked at me and nodded to indicate she meant me.

I sighed and scurried over to her desk.

"Being a champion you must attend the ball," she said, making my mouth drop open. "And you must have a date."

"Ah—"

"Don't be silly Potter it won't be that bad," McGonagall said, though her lips curled into a smile. "I suggest you begin to prepare. You must also be ready to dance with your partner."

"In front of EVERYONE?" I squeaked.

"Yes, what did you expect?" McGonagall asked in disbelief.

"Darn," I sighed. "Well... thank you..."

I then trotted back and sat beside George, rolling my eyes. "I have to go!"

"I kind of expected that," he said, shrugging.

"I don't even have dress robes to wear," I moaned. "I'll have to get some— oh!"

I smiled. "Now I can convince Viktor to ask that girl he fancies."

Without another word to George I ran out of the classroom and went straight to the library to where I knew I'd find Viktor at his usual table.

"Hello," he said pleasantly, setting down the book he was reading.

"They've just announced the Yule Ball to us," I said. "You should ask Hermione."

Viktor's cheeks turned red. "D-Do you think she vould say yes?"

"Of course she will!" I said. "Just stop being so shy and sitting across the library— talk to her!"

"But vat if—"

"Just do it, Viktor," I urged, closing his book for him. "In ten minutes she's going to come inside to work on homework. She always sits there by the window. Talk to her. Linger around that area. ASK HER."

"Vell fine," Viktor sighed. "Who— who are you going to go vith?"

"No idea," I said. "We'll see who's left."

Viktor shrugged as I ran back out of the library to head to the Common Room.

The following week I learned a lot about the guys that fancied me.

Honestly I'd never really considered that that many guys in the school even noticed me as something other than Harry Potter's sister, but apparently I was more noticeable than that.

A fellow fifth year I'd never truly noticed asked me. His name was Lawrence Cunitz, and he was sort of attractive— even a Ravenclaw. Then there was sixth year Garret Milner, a Hufflepuff. Cedric says he's fancied me for awhile now. Then, surprisingly, a Slytherin boy named Benjamin Razer, who I rejected only because I knew he was on the same page as Draco Malfoy in terms of disliking Muggleborns.

Out of all the boys that asked me that week there was no one I really wanted to go with. At this point I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

"You'll be needing to pick SOMEONE," Hermione said as she braided my hair one night.

"I know that," I sighed. "But I want to have a good time too— and I hardly know any of those boys."

"What about George?" Hermione asked.

"I'd love to go with him," I said. "But er— I honestly don't think he's going to ask me."

"Why not?" She inquired.

"Personally I think he doesn't want to make a move I'm not comfortable with," I said. "He's still building his trust."

"Ah," Hermione sighed.

"So, have you been asked yet?" I asked.

Her hands stopped braiding my hair for a second, and I knew it was a yes.

"That's a yes," I said, smirking.

She giggled slightly and continued braiding. "Yes. Yes— I got asked."

"Who?" I asked innocently.

"Viktor Krum," she whispered.

"Excellent," I sighed.

"What?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

"He's been saying you were pretty since he arrived!" I said. "And he's been working his way up to ask you."

"Has he really?" Hermione asked. I could sense her cheeks were red.

"Yes!" I said. "Oh I'm so glad he asked you!"

"I am too," she said. "But don't tell anyone. It's a surprise."

"My lips are sealed," I sang as she finished the long braid and let it fall down my shoulder.

And not a moment too soon, because Harry and Ron came over right after.

"Evil he is!" Ron hissed, plopping down on the couch across from me and taking out a deck of cards.

"Who?" I asked.

"Snape!" Ron said. "Springing a test on us on the last day. Ruining the last bit of the term with a whole load of studying."

"You're not exactly straining yourself though, are you?" Hermione asked, eyeing Ron's growing card tower.

"It's Christmas, Hermione!" Harry said. "We don't want a test."

"He loves us too much," I said in a dreamt voice. "He didn't give us a test."

"Maybe because YOU'RE in his class," Ron said. "Snape adores you."

I smiled, and Harry pulled at one of my braids.

"Hey," I hissed.

"Who're you going to the ball with?" He asked.

"No one yet," I said.

"Oh," Harry said. "Didn't McGonagall say you needed a date though?"

"I'm working on it," I sighed.

Fred and George walked up at that moment.

"Hey Ron can we borrow Pigwidgeon?" George asked, coming close to me to pull at my braids too. I swatted his hand away.

"No, he's off delivering a letter," Ron said. "Why?"

"Because George wants to invite him to the ball!" Fred said sarcastically.

"Pigwidgeon was supposed to be my date!" I hissed indignantly to George, making a face that caused him to smirk.

"Not if I ask him first," he said sharply.

"He's mine," I said fiercely.

"You two are right mad," Fred said.

"I've been telling HER she is this entire month," George said. "She doesn't believe me."

"Because we're ALL mad," I said. Fred laughed.

"So," Fred said, sitting down in front of us. "Have YOU lot got dates to the ball yet?"

"Nope," I said.

"Me neither," Ron said glumly.

"Well you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone!" Fred said.

"Who're you going with, then?" Ron asked.

"Angelina," Fred said without hesitation.

"What?" Ron asked. "You've already asked her?"

"She's his girlfriend," Harry noted. "Do you HAVE to ask them if you're already dating?"

"It'd be nice if you did," I said with a shrug, which I noticed made George look at me.

"Good point," Fred said. He turned and yelled across the common room "oi! Angelina!"

Angelina turned to look at him.

"Want to come to the ball with me?" Fred called. Angelina smirked and nodded, turning back around to continue her conversation with Alicia.

"See?" Fred said. "Piece of cake."

"I like cake," I said absently.

"She's a nutter," George said. "Oi— Beth, come with us to deliver this letter. We'll use a school owl."

"Alright," I said. "Thanks for braiding my hair, Hermione."

I waved at my brother and Ron as I walked out of the Common Room with the twins.

"Carrot top," Fred said, pulling at one of my braids as we walked.

"My hair is red," I said, raising an eyebrow. "YOUR hair is more orange than mine."

"But people say we look like siblings so your red is my red," Fred deduced.

"That's your idea of Arithmancy, is it?" I asked.

"Yes," Fred said firmly.

I laughed and pushed open the Owlery door.

After George struggled to get the letter attached to a school owl and sent it off, I asked who it was for.

"Stupid Ludo Bagman," Fred hissed. "Still ignoring us— still owes us money. EVERY TIME we try and talk to him he avoids us."

"He always has some idiotic excuse," George huffed. "Never finds the time to say a word back or write back."

"He's probably hurt he lost a bet to two sixteen year olds," I said.

"We're almost seventeen," George argued.

"Ah well I just turned sixteen," I said.

"Itty bitty baby," Fred cooed.

"Hush," I said, although I cracked a grin.

"Oi!" Fred said. "Never gave you your birthday present, did I?"

"No need it's fine—"

"Three days late I am," Fred said, digging into his cloak pocket. "Sorry—"

He pulled out a medium sized box. Inside were several of the twins' new manufactured goods, complete with some Canary Creams.

"Thank you!" I said happily, putting my arm around him.

"You'll be essentially testing most of those," George said, rubbing the back of his head. "We haven't exactly tested them all on ourselves."

"I don't mind," I said, putting my other arm around him. "It's a nice gesture. I feel special."

"We don't make pranks like we used to," Fred whined. "I miss that. You're always busy."

"It's my OWL year," I sighed. "I'm sorry."

"How about a prank right now?" George asked.

"On whom?" I asked, laughing.

"Slytherin house, probably," Fred said. "We could make their hair pink."

"How about the showers bathe them in a potion that turns them all red?" I asked.

George and Fred grinned maliciously and nodded to me.

"Well now we need to go to my room for supplies then head to Myrtle's bathroom or something," I said as we re entered the Common Room.

I darted upstairs and came back, my hands full of vials we would use. Fred was holding his cauldron and George had Harry's Invisibility Cloak.

We went into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom as quickly as we could. I didn't mind that I'd be taking a test tomorrow— it was nice to finally be staying up late to prank people again.

At around one o'clock in the morning after a very sleepy Fred nearly blew us up, I finished brewing the Potion.

George and I let Fred sleep as we snuck down the dungeons, our hands clasped together so we could both be invisible through me.

George picked the lock for the Slytherin showers with ease, and we got to work casting spells. When we'd finished we stifled our laughter and went back to the bathroom to wake Fred.

Needless to say, the next morning, quite a lot of Slytherins had brilliant red skin.

"Can't say carrot top now," I said to Fred, twirling my now unbraided hair in my finger. "They're carrots."

"Tomatoes more like it," he said, knowing it'd make me scoff.

When we went to the Common Room during lunch we found Ron inside, Ginny and Harry fanning his face.

"Did he laugh too hard from looking at the Slytherins?" Fred inquired.

"He just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him," Ginny said, rubbing Ron's back.

"You didn't!" I said, laughing.

"I don't know what made me do it!" Ron gasped. "What was I playing at? There were people everywhere. I must've gone mad— everyone was watching! I just saw her talking to Diggory— and it sort of came over me— and I asked her!"

He moaned loudly and put his face in his hands.

"She looked at me, like I was a sea slug or something," Ron said. "Didn't even answer. And then, I dunno— I felt like fainting."

"I bet you just walked past when she was turning on her veela charm for Diggory," Ginny said. "Beth was saying Fleur doesn't have a date. You probably got a blast of it— but she's wasting her time. He's going with Cho Chang."

"Is he really?" I asked excitedly.

"Yep!" Ginny said. "Saw him ask her!"

"Oh I'm so proud of him!" I sighed. "He's been wanting to ask her for ages. Harry— what's wrong?"

"I asked her to go with me just now, and she told me," he said glumly.

"Oh darn," I said quickly.

"This is mad!" Ron said. "We're the only ones left who haven't got anyone— well besides Beth, George, and a few others— and except Neville. Hey— guess who he asked? HERMIONE!"

My mouth dropped open. "Really?"

"Yeah I know!" Ron said. "He told me after Potions! Said she's always been really nice, helping him out with work and stuff- but she told him she was already going with someone. Ha! As if! She just didn't want to go with Neville...I mean, who would?" And both boys burst out laughing.

Ginny looked at me angrily. SHE, was in fact, going with Neville.

Hermione then, conveniently, climbed through the portrait hole.

"Why weren't you three at lunch?" She asked.

"Because," Ginny said, "they've both just been turned down by the girls they asked to the ball!" She pointed at Harry and Ron.

"Thanks a bunch, Ginny," Ron snapped. I smirked.

"All the good looking ones taken, Ron?" Hermione said. "Eloise Midgen starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find find someone somewhere who'll have you."

Ron gazed at Hermione as though he was seeing her in a whole new light.

"Oi, Hermione," Ron said. "You're a girl."

"Well spotted!" Hermione said coldly, rolling her eyes in my direction.

"Well you can come with us!" Ron said.

"She has a date," I said bluntly.

"Oh come on," Ron said impatiently to her. "We need partners, we're going to look really stupid if we haven't got any, everyone else has..."

"I'm already going with someone!" Hermione said, blushing. "Beth just said—"

"No you're not!" Ron said. "You just said that to get rid of Neville!"

"Ron!" Ginny and I cried.

"Oh, did I?" Hermione snarled, "just because it's taken YOU three years to notice, Ron, doesn't mean no one else has spotted I'm a girl!"

"Okay, okay, we know you're a girl!" He said. "That do? Will you come now?"

"I've already told you!" Hermione said. "I'm going with someone else!"

And with that she stormed off without another word.

"She's lying," Ron mumbled.

"No she's not," I said, a bit cross with him. "She told me who."

"Who is it then?" Ron demanded.

"Not telling," I said.

"Oh come on!" Ron said.

"It's her business!" Ginny said.

"Right," Ron mumbled. "This is getting stupid. Ginny, you can go with Harry, and I'll just—"

"I can't!" Ginny said sharply. "I'm going with Neville! He asked me when Hermione said no, and I thought...well...I'm not going to be able to go otherwise, I'm not in fourth year." She made a face that made me realize how miserably she was that she had to go with Neville. "I think I'll go have dinner."

And with that she walked out of the portrait hole, quicker than I'd ever seen her move.

"What's got into them?" Ron snapped.

"You're being insensitive!" I said, which Fred and George nodded to. "You're acting like Hermione is the last person that would ever get a date— and that's downright unfair! She's very pretty and QUITE capable of getting a decent date. You don't do that to your friends! Ask them before someone else does, next time!"

Before Ron could say anything, I rolled my eyes and turned to the twins.

"They never learn," Fred said at the same time as George said "Will you go to the ball with me?"

"Wait what?" I said, looking perplexed.

"Will you go to the ball with me?" George repeated, which made Fred's eyes widen. He bade us farewell and left us alone.

"You really want to go with me?" I asked, confused.

"Of course I do," George said. "But if you don't want to that's okay— it— well it hasn't been that long and I haven't really earned your trust and I want to make sure it's a good experience for you and—"

I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled. "I-I'd love to go with you," I said quickly. "I would. On one condition."

"You name it," George said, nodding.

"We go as friends," I said.

"Definitely," George said, smiling. "Wow— I-are you sure?"

"Just because of everything that happened doesn't mean I don't want to enjoy the ball with my best friend," I said. "Besides we can just do the mandatory dance then party in the Common Room like we said we would."

George smiled like a maniac. "Okay," he said excitedly. "Alright. Sounds good."

Then he looked at me curiously.

"If I asked you to be my girlfriend that night would you say yes?" He asked quietly.

I pursed my lips.

"I don't know that yet."


	41. Chapter 41

**_A/N: I ask you guys read this chapter really carefully! I wrote this with so, so much emotion and really important things happen here so I ask you pay close attention to the details._ **

I woke up Christmas morning to a house elf staring me in the face.

"Oh my GOD!" I screamed, leaping out of bed and making Batavia shoot up from her bed. "Dobby!"

"Dobby is sorry, miss!" Dobbby squeaked, covering his mouth. "Dobby is only wanting to wish Elizabeth Potter 'Merry Christmas' and bring her a present, miss!"

"That's so sweet of you," I squeaked as Batavia roared with laughter at me trying to get up.

Once I sat on my bed Dobby pulled out a tiny package. I opened it and out came two different colored socks— one green with some triangles on it and one orange with a pattern of what appeared to be Quidditch hoops.

"Oh!" I cried, pulling Dobby into my arms. "That's so sweet— thank you!"

I pulled away and hurried to my closet. I pulled out the first thing I found— an old sweater that didn't really fit me, and gave it to Dobby.

"Miss is too kind to Dobby!" He trilled as he pulled it over his head, now sporting a faded red. "Dobby will now go give Harry Potter his present as well!"

"Thank you Dobby!" I called, putting the socks on as he left.

When the door closed Batavia sniggered and covered her face with the sheets.

"What?" I hissed.

"Your— face," she giggled.

"Shut up," I hissed, beginning to braid my own hair. "Your face looks worse."

Batavia subconsciously tapped her cheeks then grinned. "Nope! I put that ointment from Diagon Alley on every day this week, no pimples!"

"Lucky you," Katie's voice came from her bed. "I've got a horrid one here on my forehead."

"It doesn't look bad," I said as she got up, dragging her feet and heading to the lavatory.

"It looks awful," she sighed, shutting the door behind her.

"Are you ready for tonight?" Batavia asked excitedly.

"No," I said honestly, pinning my braided hair in a crown around my head. "I'm not ready at all."

"So you're still going with George, right?" Batavia asked.

"Yep," I said, getting up and pulling out the emerald green dress Batavia and Katie had chosen for me in Hogsmeade. "Is Oliver coming?"

"Oh yes," Batavia squealed, taking her purple dress out. "I haven't seen him in months— I expect he buffed up a bit training with Puddlemere United..."

I snorted.

"I expect he'll have a bit of a beard," Batavia continued. "He used to get so careless about it when I didn't tell him."

"Oliver Wood with a beard?" I asked, shivering. "That's not going to be appealing."

"Shut up," Batavia said, although she grinned. "Ohh... I wonder what he'll say."

"About what?" I inquired.

"Nothing," Batavia said, shrugging slightly, although she looked nervous. "So what about you and loverboy? What if he asks you out?"

"I dunno!" I said. "I dunno what to do in those situations!"

"Well he's already asked you once—"

"It was so DIFFERENT last time," I said. "Now we've just come from a rough patch and he KNOWS I don't even trust him."

"Well that is tough," Batavia sighed. "Listen— don't jump into a relationship. I really don't think you should. You're not ready, he's not ready, this tournament has screwed you over. You may think you can handle it but I don't mean to be a prat by saying you can't."

"That makes sense," I said. "I just hope George thinks so too."

"If he doesn't understand that then he is not the guy for you," Batavia said, wincing.

"You're right," I said firmly. "He better understand it."

Batavia smiled. "How are you wearing your hair?"

"Down, I think," I said, finishing another long braid.

"Your hair is so long," Batavia said dreamily. "All the way to your hips and so well kept... I'm jealous..."

My mouth went dry and an idea came into my head. "I want to cut it."

"No!" Batavia gasped, her eyes widening.

"I've wanted to cut it for awhile now," I said. "I really really have—"

"Elizabeth Lily Potter don't you go do something like that!" Batavia shrieked.

"It looks good," I said.

"How would YOU know?" Batavia hissed.

In response, I concentrated so my hair became shorter— how it would look if it rested right above my shoulders.

Batavia was in awe.

"That was the most brilliant transformation I've ever seen you do," she breathed. "I-I think it's nice but Beth, your hair...."

"If I ever want it back then I just need to permanently shift myself to have long hair," I said, shrugging and digging in Batavia's trunk for scissors. "It isn't a big deal."

"I envy those powers of yours," Batavia said. "And— I can't believe you don't even use them like most people would."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well others might permanently make themselves look dazzling," Batavia said. "If I could do that I'd make myself have sea green eyes and curly hair and naturally curled eyelashes."

"I never really thought of doing that," I said as I leaned forward toward the mirror. I cut through my braid just as Katie walked in, and I swear she nearly fainted.

"Beth!" She cried. "What did you do?"

"I cut my hair," I said, holding up the braid I'd cut off. It was at least a foot long— I could donate it if I wanted to.

"You're mad!" Katie said, shivering as she went to her trunk and pulled out the sapphire dress she was wearing.

"Oh that's gorgeous," Batavia breathed.

"Thank you!" Katie giggled. "Bixby is wearing sapphire dress robes, thought we'd match."

"I don't know how you got my brother to agree to matching," Batavia huffed. "Our mother tried to do that for ages."

"I dunno," Katie said thoughtfully. "He offered."

"That rat!" Batavia said indignantly.

________

After a very delicious lunch, we all went outside to have a snowball fight. It ended up being George, Harry, Ginny, and I against Bixby, Batavia, Katie, and Ron. Hermione didn't want to play because the hair product she was using for the ball (one of the ones my grandfather made) required her to keep her hair completely dry. She wouldn't risk it.

Meanwhile my hair had been cut— although only Katie and Batavia knew. I'd hidden it under a hat so I could surprise the others later.

After Ginny had been ambushed and I'd summoned all the snowballs Katie was holding out of her hands, a very anxious Hermione let out a little huff to let us know we should all head back in the castle to get ready.

"What, you lot need three hours?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"Yes," I said, grabbing Ginny's hand to pull myself out of the trench George had dug.

"Who're you going with, Hermione?" Ron called. Hermione ignored him and walked into the castle, leaving Ginny to jog in after her.

George looked at me and smiled. "I'll er— I'll see you later, then."

"Definitely," I said, feeling my cheeks growing red. Before I could embarrass myself more I followed Batavia and Katie into the castle.

"He's definitely excited to see you in your dress," Katie giggled, looping her arm through mine.

"I wonder how he's going to react when he sees your hair," Batavia said, pulling Katie and I sharply down the hallway to the Common Room. "Reckon he'll like it?"

I stared at her, confused.

"I didn't cut it for him to have an opinion," I said. "Whatever he thinks doesn't matter. I cut it for me because it makes me feel better."

Katie raised her eyebrow. "I like that answer."

I sighed loudly. "If he's not fine with it that'll be strike one. He should respect my choices."

"Oh," Batavia said suddenly.

"What?" Katie and I asked.

"You're nervous," Batavia said, looking fixedly at me.

I felt my cheeks grow red.

"She got fierce because she's nervous!" Batavia said.

"Well kind of!" I said. "I-I don't know what to tell him!"

"About the hair?" Katie asked.

"No, no," Batavia said. "Remember how she mentioned he asked her what she would say if he asked to be her boyfriend again?"

"Oh!" Katie said.

"I'm getting anxious," I said, rubbing my arms. "I don't know WHEN he's going to ask or if he'll even say anything about it— I'm nervous how he'll react when I say no."

"Oh sweetie," Katie said, leaning her head on my shoulder and rubbing my back. "It's like you said with the hair thing. If he's not fine with it, it'll be strike one."

"I just don't trust him," I whispered. "Just like how he didn't trust me. I can't trust he'll react well. I keep half expecting him to act all jealous again."

"If he does, dump him, is all," Batavia said. "He shouldn't force you to do anything you don't want to do."

"You're right," I said firmly, nodding my head.

"But if you decide to," Katie added quickly, "then you should do what your heart tells you."

"That's so cheesy!" Batavia said. "Besides this is too important to follow your stupid heart over your brain."

"Hearts aren't the ones that actually control those emotions, you know," Katie said smartly. "Your brain controls that."

"Oh stop going all 'future Healer' on me," Batavia hissed. Then her eyes widened as she pushed the dormitory door open.

"What?" I asked, my eyebrow raised.

"I have no idea what I want to be when I graduate!" She shrieked.

"Where the bloody hell did THAT come from?" I asked, making a face at Katie.

"Ah," Katie said, "I mentioned yesterday I decided I want to be a Healer."

"Oh come on Batavia," I said. "I don't know what I'm going to be either— it doesn't matter!"

"We have career meetings next month!" Batavia said. "It does matter!"

"What you choose that day doesn't matter!" I said. "You can change later!"

"But how will I choose—"

"Angelina told us to just take as many NEWT classes as possible to be ready for anything," I said. "I've been paying attention."

"Oh," Batavia said, looking nervous. "I don't even know why I'm freaking out about this...."

"You've been nervous all day," Katie said, raising an eyebrow.

Then her eyes widened.

"I know why she's nervous!" She hissed, pushing Batavia to sit down. "You will tell us the truth!"

"What are you going on about?" I asked, crossing my arms and raising an eyebrow at Katie as she put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes in Batavia's direction.

"Oliver asked you to sleep with him," Katie said bluntly.

My hands flew to cover my mouth as Batavia's jaw went slack.

"No!" I cried, looking at her. "Did he really?"

The look on Batavia's face revealed everything.

"No!" I cried. "Bad!"

"THAT'S why she's giving such good advice!" Katie said, smacking her forehead.

"Hey!" Batavia cried indignantly. "I give good advice—"

"Batavia!" I hissed. "When did he ask?"

She struggled to form the words. "I-I well— he— oh... well.... last week."

"Merlin!" Katie shrieked. "What did you say?"

"I-I didn't respond!" Batavia said. "I didn't return the owl!"

"Well, are you going to tell him tonight that it's a no?" I asked.

Batavia looked at me sheepishly. "I don't know if I want to."

"Want to sleep with him or—"

"Say no," Batavia said quietly.

Katie let out a strangled gasp.

"No!" She said, looking annoyed. "No, don't be stupid! You were just telling Beth not to succumb to pressure—"

"I want to!" Batavia said, leaping up. "When I met him in first year I went head over heels for him! We've dated for nearly three years! My parents adore him! I want to!"

"You're BARELY sixteen!" I said. "You know how old he is? He's nineteen! He's an ADULT! He shouldn't even be asking you—"

"I WANT TO DO IT!" Batavia said. "I'm not a baby anymore!"

"Batavia it isn't about being a baby!" I said. "You're— you're losing something important!"

"It's my body I can choose—"

"Is he forcing you to?" Katie asked urgently. "Did he threaten—"

"No! I just want to—"

"Batavia you really need to think this through," I said. "Please don't—"

"I will do whatever I please!" Batavia snapped, marching to her trunk and snatching up her dress and heels. "You can't stop me—"

"I'll tell Bixby!" Katie screamed, tears now coming out of her eyes.

There was silence.

"I will tell him," she choked.

"You wouldn't," Batavia said in a low snarl.

"I will," Katie croaked. "Don't— please, it's so dangerous, and it's— it's the last bit of you—"

Batavia made a furious face and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

Katie burst into tears and sat down on the bed. I put my arms around her and rubbed her back.

"Katie, Katie," I said, "please don't cry— she's being an idiot, she'll realize—"

"She's going to go to Angelina and Alicia!" Katie shrieked, tears splashing out of her eyes. "And they'll say it's fine! Angelina and Fred slept together! Alicia slept with a Ravenclaw boy before! They'll say it's fine! They'll encourage her to d-destroy herself!"

I pursed my lips. She was right.

"I'm going to tell Bixby right now," I said, stroking Katie's hair. "He has to stop her—"

"But CAN he?" Katie whispered. "He won't be able to convince her, and he can't beat Oliver in a fight...."

I sighed deeply, my own eyes welling up with tears.

"Maybe she'll decide against it," I said, my voice quivering. "She's not that stupid... she isn't...."

"I don't want to go to the ball anymore!" Katie wailed, clutching to me and resting her face on my chest. "I don't want to— I'm ugly and I have a pimple on my forehead and I look blotchy now and I can't be happy after this—"

"You are NOT ugly!" I said, hugging her tightly. "We can fix the blotchiness and the pimple, I know some fancy spells... Katie don't let her stubbornness make you ruin your night...."

Katie shivered and wiped her eyes, pulling away.

"What if she does?" She asked. "What then?"

"We can't change anything," I said. "Whatever she decides is what she decides. But if something goes wrong— even if nothing does— we'll be there to support her. We'll... we'll talk to her later. We're all friends, Katie, we can't let this tear us apart."

"What if she gets pregnant?" Katie asked. "What if she gets pregnant and Oliver leaves her?"

"She won't get pregnant," I said. "Trust me she won't. And he wouldn't leave her. He—well I know him better than that. He reminds me of my dad. And my dad didn't leave my mum after she got pregnant."

Katie's lip trembled. She nodded and shook her head.

"It'll be fine," she said, though she didn't sound like she believed it. "Let's just— let's just get ready. We've lost an hour."

She excused herself to the lavatory right after, leaving me to take a deep breath.

Being a teenager was so complicated sometimes, it was a wonder we hadn't all gone mad.

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After a few hours of Katie fixing her face, we managed to get her hair curled rather nicely. She was jealous that my short hair naturally curled itself in the slightest and most beautiful way it could have. I admit I used a bit of my power to curl it a tad more.

Katie looked absolutely stunning in her dress. You couldn't tell that she'd been crying or was even distressed.

Meanwhile I.... looked better than I thought I was going to. My hair was now hanging right over my shoulders. My bare skin looked good, exposed around my shoulders. The dress flowed down to past my knee. I felt... beautiful.

"Oh Beth," Katie breathed, covering her mouth. "You look so gorgeous."

"Thanks to you," I said, observing my face in the mirror. "The makeup looks... incredible.... and you look glamorous oh Merlin...."

Katie twirled, putting on a smile. "Bixby is going to faint when he sees me."

Then her expression became serious. "I want to tell him. Should I?"

"I think you should," I said. "But not until Batavia and Oliver start showing signs of leaving the party."

"Alright," Katie said, brushing her skirt down. "Well... I'm going to meet Bixby now! Don't be late!"

"I won't be," I called as she scurried down.

I spent only a few more minutes adjusting my hair. I had to admit that cutting it perhaps had been a very abstract change but I LOVED it.

About a quarter to eight I exited my dormitory and went down into the Common Room.

The first person I saw was Harry, who was wincing as his date, Parvati Patil, scurried out without even looking at him.

"Tough luck," I said. "She's probably just gone to get her sister for Ron— don't take it personally."

"Yeah, probably," Harry said, his mouth dropping open as he looked at me. "Beth! Your hair..."

"I like it," I said.

"I like it too but... you don't look so much like Mum anymore," he whispered.

My chest tightened.

"I'm my own person," I said, standing up straighter. "That's not that bad."

"Alright," Harry said. "Hey— there's George."

I turned around, my hair brushing softly against my shoulders as I did so.

George's mouth very literally dropped open.  
  


George's POV  
  


I was in complete awe.

I felt like I was staring at an angel. Beth's hair was so much shorter now but it just made her HOTTER. I hadn't seen her sport this much skin publicly since we were kids.

Her eyes stood out more than ever. They were dazzling— a hypnotizing green that I didn't even know could exist and reside in a person's eyes. It was surreal. Her cheeks were rosy and bright, her eyebrows shaped so well I was almost intimidated.

She was drop dead gorgeous, and there I was, standing across the Common Room, drooling over her.

"Hey," she said, smiling as she came to meet me.

"Huh," I said awkwardly, still looking her all over. I couldn't take my eyes off her— there was so much of her beauty I had yet to take in. It felt like I was staring at her for the first time. She was looking up at me and her eyelashes were even attractive— curled so perfectly it was unbelievable.

"You okay?" She asked, laughing.

"Uh huh," I mumbled, stopping for a minute to look at her entire outfit again. UNBELIEVABLE, I'm telling you. Unbelievable.

"You look amazing," I managed in a really awkward croak.

She blushed. She looked adorable when she blushed. She had nothing to be shy about.

"Thank you," she whispered. "You look handsome."

"T-Thanks," I stammered, a grin coming onto my face. "W-Wow I can't even.... holy Hufflepuff...."

She covered her mouth as she laughed. Instinctively I pulled her hand away from her mouth, stepping so close to her that there was hardly any distance between us.

She was staring at me, her eyes wide. I wanted to kiss her more than anything....

But I couldn't. I knew she wouldn't be okay with it. So instead I cleared my throat and took a step back, offering up my arm to her.

We walked all the way down to the Great Hall where we were lined up behind the other champions.

In the front of the line Viktor Krum was with Hermione, who I'd never seen look so pretty. She really did look grown up— Ron was a bloody idiot for letting THAT slip out of his grasp.

Fleur— the Beauxbatons champion— was arm in arm with Roger Davies, captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, behind them. She looked really pretty too, and I FELT the blast of her veela charm.

But for the first time ever it didn't affect me. I was so involved in Beth and staring at her that I literally couldn't feel the power of the veela slamming against me. I looked at Beth as we were placed behind Cedric and his date, Cho Chang.

Beth hugged him, pressing a kiss on Cho's cheek when they embraced. Cho had complimented her dress. I'd internally agreed. Cedric noticed I was staring at Beth and grinned.

I was so in love with her, and she had no idea.

As we filed in I couldn't pay attention to how dazzling the Great Hall looked. What I did notice, however, was how stiff Beth had become as we walked toward the long table at the end.

She was smiling, but it seemed forced. She looked nervous, and didn't wave like Fleur and Cho were doing.

That's when it hit me.

There were lights flashing all over the room. They weren't from cameras— they were from the glittery diamonds that hung across the walls and the ceiling. But even so...

I remembered the day in Flourish and Blotts when Beth had had a panic attack. It was the stupid lights.

"Hey," I said, squeezing her hand, which made her look at me. "You're okay."

Her smile became genuine, although it decreased in size. She squeezed my hand back and mouthed a brief 'thank you,' her cheeks growing rosy again.

I didn't really pay attention to what I ate or what Percy— my brother, who was sitting in for Barty Crouch— was telling Beth about. I didn't pay attention to Viktor Krum trying to pronounce Hermione's name, or Roger Davies drooling over Fleur— I didn't even pay attention to Cedric and Cho giggling and holding hands on the table.

All I could pay attention to was Beth.   
  


Elizabeth's POV  
  


George would not stop looking at me.

It was really clear he stared at me all throughout the dinner— he made no effort to hide it.

I felt my heart hammering in my chest. I wanted to forget we had ever fought, ever broken up. He was staring at me differently than he had ever stared at me before.

In that moment I wanted to grab his arm and drag him to the corridor and just snog him until we were both too exhausted to continue.

Dumbledore stood up abruptly, which made me snap back to reality.

The time had come for the champions to dance. George reached his arm out for me to take, still staring at me in complete awe as we took our places on the floor. The Weird Sisters had taken the stage— but neither of us were paying attention.

Because we were staring into each other's eyes, having a silent battle about whether or not we should kiss.

The music began. George carefully slid his hand around my waist, turning slightly red as he did so. I placed my hand delicately on his shoulder, my other hand clasping his as our feet grew to have a certain rhythm.

"Remember when your mum taught us to dance?" I asked, smiling.

"I remember Percy learned the fastest," George said, grinning, "and you took forever to learn. Mum made him dance with you."

"And I stepped on his toes a record breaking fifteen times," I said.

George leaned closer. "I think Neville just broke that record with Ginny."

I turned and saw that in the crowd, Neville and Ginny were dancing. She kept wincing as he treaded on her little toes.

"Poor thing," I sighed. I looked at him, feeling nervous with how often he kept looking at me.

I think he noticed too, because immediately after he asked "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Yes," I said immediately. Then my eyes widened and I bit my lip. "I'm sorry— it's— well— can I rant?"

George nodded, looking concerned.

"Oliver asked Batavia to sleep with him," I said, looking over to where Oliver and Batavia had begun to dance. "And she wants to."

George raised an eyebrow. "What did you tell her?"

"Katie and I yelled at her pretty bad," I said. "She stormed out— dunno where exactly she went to get ready. She was furious that Katie threatened to tell Bixby."

George pursed his lips. "Listen, Beth, I wouldn't want to ask you to do something like that. I— well— I'll be honest with you, I would... eventually...."

My eyes widened.

"But not right now," he added hastily. "We're way too young and I wouldn't do that to you. I-I'm sorry if my looking at you makes you think that... well that I want to sleep with you. Trust me I'm not looking at you like that. You— well...."

I looked up at him expectantly.

"You look gorgeous," he spluttered, turning completely red. "You look gorgeous and I am so, so in love with you. I want to kiss you. I want to kiss you right now, and never stop. I want to ask you to be my girlfriend and put my stupidity behind me— you have no idea how much I wish I could take it back because it's my fault we lost a few months. I am so incredibly sorry. But you—" his voice cracked slightly "you look so good I just can't stop looking at you. I don't think I have ever, in all my years of life, seen someone who looked so beautiful. You might as well be a veela, Beth. You're gorgeous, truly you are."

Flustered, I looked down. My eyes were filling with a small cluster of tears.

George pushed my face up. Our noses were inches apart. If we wanted to we could stop dancing completely and just connect our lips.

"We can't," I said softly, my voice cracking. "I'm so sorry."

George pulled away, offering me a small smile. "I know. But it was worth a try."

"Look George—"

"You don't need to apologize," he said, twirling me around slowly. "You did nothing wrong. I was the one who hurt you. I don't deserve to be here with you. I deserve to have a horrible time. I hurt you so unimaginably much I don't know how I didn't get put in Azkaban. I should be apologizing— and am apologizing. I'm still earning your trust. And... I thank you for giving me the chance to do that again."

I couldn't handle it. A slow tear rolled down my cheek. How on earth did this all happen?

"Let's put it in the past," I said, tiptoeing and kissing his cheek, my lips making contact with his skin so softly they would have bounced neatly off a butterfly's wing. "Let's enjoy tonight. Then we'll see."

George grinned, and I knew it might all be alright.

I don't really remember much of what happened during the dance. I remember having a lot of fun and dancing so hard my legs were on fire. I vaguely remember raiding the punch table with George.

The night was amazing. And that was all that mattered.

When the dance ended, George walked me to my dormitory. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my head to his chest, closing my eyes.

"Goodnight, Elizabeth," he said softly as his strong arms released me. He offered me a smile before leaving.

My chest tight, I pushed open the door.

Inside, Hermione was in Katie's arms, crying her eyes out.

"No!" I cried, running and sitting beside her. "No— Hermione... what happened?"

"Ron!" She wailed. "J-Just has to r-ruin everything!"

Katie let go of her, and Hermione wrapped her arms around me, crying on my shoulder.

The door swung open again.

Batavia was standing in the doorway, radiating a different type of energy. Physically, she looked energized. But I could see through her. She was about to cry.

Katie didn't say a word. Batavia kicked her heels off. Her hands began to shake as she carefully slipped off the dress. I noticed when she walked to get pajamas, her legs were pressed tightly together.

She must have slept with Oliver.

When she'd changed, she looked up at us. Katie looked down. Batavia's mouth twitched, and she looked at me. I opened my arm and waved her in.

She burst into tears, and that's when Katie shot up and ran to her, hugging her as Batavia let out a loud sob.

"I-I d-did i-it," she gasped as Katie and I both squished her next to Hermione in an enormous group hug.

"Oh Batavia," Katie said, sounding disappointed but overall relieved she was back.

"It felt amazing," Batavia said, letting out a short laugh. "Or would— would feel amazing if-if-if—" her lips trembled "if it hadn't hurt so bad."

She let out another sob and burrowed her face in Hermione's shoulder. Katie let out a loud sigh and pulled us all closer together.

"I wasn't ready," Batavia croaked. "I should have listened. I-I'm sorry Katie."

"Just think it through better next time," Katie said soothingly. She looked at me and nodded. "You can't change what happened. But we still love you."

Batavia breathed out, closing her eyes. Katie began to cry softly and soon, I did too.

What a night. What a night....


	42. Chapter 42

When school began again, McGonagall called us in for the career meeting we'd been anticipating.

Batavia, in the heat of the moment, said she wanted to be a Professor. She'd done what we told her and set herself up to take all the NEWTs she possibly could. Personally, I think she would have made a really good Gringotts curse breaker like Bill but I suppose I should have told her that before she chose to say she wanted to be a Professor.

Katie decided she wanted to be a Healer. She dropped a lot of unnecessary classes for the sixth year term and only remained with the ones that were absolutely necessary.

Meanwhile I told Professor McGonagall I wanted to be an Auror.

"A very bold choice," McGonagall said, raising her eyebrows. "You need top grades for it. Are you SURE you don't want to take your OWLs in the summer?"

"I'm sure," I said. "I'm managing. Don't worry."

She had smiled and began discussing what NEWTs I needed.

As the second task was approaching, Cedric and I spent a lot of time together investigating what the egg could possibly mean. George tagged a long a lot, offering input where he could.

I was glad that he had been okay with me choosing not to date him again. It made me feel at peace knowing that I had time to learn to trust him again without being forced into a relationship.

"So we know it screeches like a banshee when you open it," George said, observing Cedric's egg. "But we don't know if that sound means anything."

"It must mean something but it doesn't sound like any creature we've ever seen before," Cedric said, holding the egg up to the light. "Maybe it's a secret code."

"Maybe we should be looking at it when it's closed first," I said, tracing the shell of mine. Bumps across its surface made my fingertips tingle. "This might mean something too— reveal what language it can be in."

"Well you're the one that's taken Runes," George said.

I rolled my eyes and grinned. "I'll be right back."

I left Cedric and George alone for a bit while I went to get a Runes book. From the shelf I was looking in I could see them. George was speaking urgently to Cedric about something.

"Should I?" I mumbled to myself, contemplating eavesdropping.

"You should," I heard a voice say behind me.

I turned cautiously around and saw Fred, leaning on the shelf behind me.

"Fred in a library, on his own?" I asked quizzically, raising an eyebrow. "What world am I in?"

"Oh shut up," he said. "I needed a book and decided I'd stay awhile. It's calm here."

"Still odd," I said, cocking an eyebrow.

Fred sighed. "If you MUST know, I needed a minute away from Angelina."

"Why?" I asked. "What's the matter?"

"She just found out today she gets to be Quidditch captain next year," he said.

"That's amazing!" I said happily. "Wow— I'm happy for her!"

"I'm happy for her too but Merlin's bloody beard she won't shut up about it," Fred said, wincing. "I didn't want to be rude and tell her to stop talking so I came here instead."

"No shame in that," I said, shrugging. I looked over my shoulder and saw Cedric and George were still talking.

"Curiosity killed the cat," Fred said. "And considering your situation I'd say you don't want to die."

"You're encouraging me to do a bad thing," I hissed, although my lips curled into a smile. "Ah— I want to. But it looks private."

Fred craned his neck to the side and smirked. "Probably is. George only talks with his hands when it's serious."

I looked back and saw he was right. George's arms were waving wildly around as he spoke.

"I think you did the right thing," Fred said, making me turn back to him. "Not dating him again."

"Really?" I whispered. "I thought you'd dislike me for that."

"It's good for him," Fred said. "He was a right prick to you. Now he's getting a punishment he deserves, and he's realizing that he can't pull a stunt like that again. It's teaching him to respect you, and making him work to have your affection. Girl power."

"It has nothing to do with girl power," I said, rolling my eyes. "I'd expect him to do the same to me if I accused him of cheating."

"Eh," Fred said. "I like girl power either way."

I let out a small laugh. "Well then— I should head back, they'll be wondering where I went."

"You're going to regret not reading their minds," Fred said.

"I probably will," I said, shrugging as I walked backwards to the table. "But I can't take advantage of people with my powers. It's not something to be proud of."

"Oh you're too much of a goodie goodie," Fred said, laughing.

"I'm just not as big on invading people's privacy as YOU are," I said, turning and waving my book in the air as a farewell gesture. I heard Fred laugh again behind me.

"Hullo," I said, coming back to the table.

"Hi," George said a bit quickly. I noticed he was breathing heavily— probably from talking so fast.

"What were you guys chatting about in my absence?" I asked slyly, hoping perhaps I might find out. Then it wouldn't be spying...

"Oh, Quidditch," Cedric said, smirking to George.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Liar.

"Really, we were," he said, although the stupid grin on his face let me know he was still clearly lying.

"Alright," I said, shooting him a sweet smile. I opened the Runes book and began comparing what was written there with what was etched on the cup.

There was a cough behind us. I turned and saw Professor Moody was looking for a book in the Potions shelf.

"Hello Professor," Cedric said kindly, waving.

"Diggory," Moody said, nodding. "Weasley. Potter."

I smiled and looked back down.

"Actually, Diggory," Moody said, limping towards us, "I'd like to have a word with you."

"Oh," Cedric said, looking at George and I slightly confused. "Sure."

The bell rang right as he got up.

"You have my class next just walk with me," Moody said, waving his arm as he began limping out of the library. I shrugged to Cedric and waved, closing my book and putting the egg in my bag.

When dinner came around, Cedric wasn't there. It was a bit odd to me until he arrived at the end, coming to where George and I were and pulling us aside.

"Moody was mentioning how I dealt with the dragon," he said urgently. "And get this— when I mentioned how we were trying to figure out the egg and I thought it was a code and he said to put it underwater. I've just come from the Prefect's bathroom— IT WORKED. I figured out what the task is."

"Excellent," George said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Why the Prefect's bathroom?" I asked.

"Well they've got an enormous bathtub," Cedric said. "Pool sized. Are— aren't you a prefect?"

"Nope," I said. "I think it's probably just because Dumbledore knew I didn't need the stress."

"Ah," Cedric said. "Well— put it underwater. Password's Pine Fresh. But you didn't hear it from me."

"Alright," I said, grinning. "How long did it take you to figure it all out?"

"Not going to lie, about an hour," Cedric said, scratching the back of his head.

"I'll beat your record then," I said with a cheeky smile. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he said, waving to George and I before walking back to his table.

"Are you going to sneak out tonight?" George asked. "I can cover for you— say you fell asleep in the library— or felt sick—"

I was touched by what he said.

"That won't be necessary," I said, grinning at him. "You're coming with me."

George looked utterly perplexed.

"A-Are you sure?" He asked. "I mean pool sized bathtub— I-I don't want to invade your privacy or anything—"

"Oh don't be silly we'll just wear swim trunks," I said. "I'll meet you in the Common Room at nine, alright?"

"O-Okay," he said. "Beth are you SURE? If you want to do it alone you don't have to let me come—"

"Please, George," I sighed. "You're my best friend. Why wouldn't I want you to come?"

"I really don't want to intrude—"

"We'll wear swim trunks," I repeated, shaking my head and smirking. "It's fine. It's not like we haven't gone swimming together before. This is just more... quiet... because it breaks about forty school rules."

George smirked. "Alright then... I'll see you at nine."

"See you," I said, waving as I exited the Great Hall and headed for the Gryffindor Common Room.

I thought what he'd said was sweet. My trust level for him zoomed up at least two levels— he was respecting my boundaries and didn't want to make me uncomfortable.

He was on a good path to getting back in my good graces. Perhaps I might even let him be my boyfriend again by the end of the Tournament.

After spending a good three hours doing homework while Katie and Batavia worked on a History project they'd procrastinated on, I bade them farewell and headed downstairs, my swimsuit on under my robes. I had wrapped a towel around my waist and tied it tight, in case I needed it.

George was discreetly standing by the door. The Common Room was empty for the most part, the only ones there being Harry, Ron, Hermione, and a couple other older students who could care less what rules I was attempting to break.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked.

"Swimming," I chirped. "If a student asks, George and I felt sick and went to the Hospital Wing. If McGonagall comes, then George and I both have stomach flu... or something... and are stuck vomiting in our respective bathrooms."

"Which bloody rules are you breaking?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"Well there's the no roaming the halls after curfew," George said, holding up his fingers to count. "No going into bathrooms we aren't allowed to go in. No helping the champions solve their clues. No kicking Mrs Norris—"

"Aw don't be awful to her!" Hermione said, although she smiled.

"We won't be unless we have to," I said. "See you around."

"Wait," Harry said, narrowing his eyes to George. "Don't go be idiots—"

"Oh come on Harry we're just going to go solve the clue and come back!" I said. "I'll tell you all about it—"

"Er— I don't think that's what he meant," George said, turning red. My eyes widened.

"Don't be stupid," I hissed to Harry. "We're not doing anything weird."

"You better not," Harry mumbled as he sat down.

I rolled my eyes and gripped George's hand, turning us both invisible as we stepped out of the portrait hole.

"Overprotective," George whispered. "Adorable."

"Mmm," I said, feeling annoyed that Harry even thought George and I would be stupid enough to well.. you know.

When we got to the prefect's bathroom, I whispered the password. The door swung open and as soon as George closed it, I locked it and put up about every silencing spell I knew.

"You act like someone is going to suspect we're in here," George said.

"I don't know how loud the egg's screeching will be even when it's underwater," I said. "McGonagall's office is around the left hall and Snape's is just down two flights of stairs— you know those two have the sharpest ears besides Moody."

"Well you're not wrong there," he said, shrugging.

I put the egg and my wand by the edge of the pool. Then I took my robes off, my towel still wrapped tightly around my waist. Surprising, really, I thought it might've come undone.

George turned to face the other way as he took his robes off. I laughed internally, seeing how respectful he was being about it all.

It only reminded me of how much I loved him.

I placed my towel on the rack and went to the steps into the 'bathtub.' Cedric was right— this thing was like a friggin' pool.

I climbed into the water, sighing as the warmth of it hit my skin.

I looked at George as he walked to the stairs to get into the pool. Shaking my head to stop myself from staring, I turned away and moved through the water to the center of the pool.

"Oh cool what does this do?" I heard George say from behind me.

He pulled the lever at the entrance of the pool, which released a stream of colorful soapy solution into the water. I shrieked with delight as bubbles began to rise.

"Bubbles!" I exclaimed.

"Oh Merlin how old ARE you?" George asked, smirking.

"I dunno, honestly," I sighed, laying back and letting my hair get wet. I leaned my head back up, and my damp hair slapped the back of my neck. It was so different swimming with short hair— the damp mass didn't lay itself on my shoulders and give me a weird moist sensation on my back. It was so short that all it did when it was wet was drip onto my shoulders. So light. I loved it.

George climbed in, and laughed as he made himself a bubble beard. 

"I don't know what's nicer, Dumbledore's beard, the one you got when you tried to put your name in the Goblet, or that one," I said with a giggle.

"Dumbledore could never," he said, swimming closer to where I was.

The water was up to my collarbones where we were. For George it was more around his chest. Needless to say, he looked good with a bare chest... he wasn't lying about having a six pack.

I found myself staring a little too much, because, I noticed George blushed and turned slightly away.

"We should— we should solve the egg clue," he said, clearing his throat.

"Yeah," I said hastily, summoning the egg into my hands. I shrieked as it landed, because it weighed me down and made me sink so the water was up to my neck.

"Shortie," he said, laughing. I stuck my tongue out and looked down at the egg, searching for the clasp.

I pried it open. A golden light came out of it, illuminating the bubbly water all around us.

I could hear music from inside.

I looked at George, who was looking curiously at the glowing egg.

I closed it and brought it to the surface.

"Interesting," I said, observing it closely. "Very interesting."

"Let's listen," George said, taking it and opening it slowly under the water.

I took a deep breath and submerged my head at the same time as George, the melody now clearly flowing into my ears.

" _Come seek us where our voices sound,_

_We cannot sing above the ground,_

_And while you're searching ponder this:_

_We've taken what you'll sorely miss,_

_An hour long you'll have to look,_

_And to recover what we took,_

_But past an hour— the prospect's black,_

_Too late, it's gone, it won't come back_."

I gasped and shot out of the water at the same time as George.

He handed the egg back to me and wiped the water off his face. He pushed his wet hair back and I swear my heart fluttered so fast it's a wonder I'm still alive.

He was staring at me too. For a moment neither of us spoke, and instinctively we drifted closer to each other. I felt the egg brush against my chest— it was the only thing stopping our bodies from making contact.

I wanted to kiss him. Who was I kidding? What he'd done today had reassured me enough that I could trust him. I wanted to wait before we started a relationship again, I really did, but what was the point of waiting when he'd already served his punishment? He'd been on probation for nearly two and a half months already...

Whatever I was feeling, I was sure George felt the same. His mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out. I could tell there was something he wanted to say.

I wanted to say something too. I wanted to tell him he was done, he'd passed, he could ask me again and be guaranteed that I'd say yes.

Instead, I blinked quickly and looked away, pushing myself away from him, swallowing hard as his expression dropped and he cleared his throat.

"Come seek us where our voices sound," I recited, my voice shaking slightly. "We cannot sing above the ground."

"Okay, clearly an aquatic creature," George said, furrowing his eyebrows. He looked at me again then looked around the room. He fixed his eyes on something behind me and narrowed his eyes. "I wonder..."

"What?" I asked, turning to where he was looking.

Then I saw it. A stained glass window portraying a mermaid that was fixing her hair.

"Oh!" I said. "Wow... yes... I think so. There ARE mermaids in the Black Lake— Bixby told me so. No bloody wonder it sounded like screeching above the ground! It was a bloody mermaid!"

"Oooh very good," a voice said. "It took the other boy much longer than that."

I nearly screamed when I turned and saw Moaning Myrtle sitting by the edge of the pool.

"Hi Myrtle," I said.

"Hey Myrtle," George said, waving, an awkward smile on his face.

"I haven't seen you both in forever," she sighed, drifting closer. "Not since you made that Polyjuice Potion in my bathroom...."

"We've been really busy," I said. "Sorry."

Myrtle shrugged, sighing as she entered (I mean, sort of entered? I dunno) the water. She came closer to us, standing a bit aways but close enough that we could see her really clearly.

"Mermaids then," I said, turning back to George. "Okay. Next line... And while you're searching ponder this, we've taken what you'll sorely miss...."

George was silent, his face scrunching up as he thought. He looked so hot....

Myrtle let out a small sigh and leaned back in the water, floating on top of it.

"Something wrong?" I asked, my mouth dry. I wanted to look at George again, but I couldn't, I knew I'd do something stupid—

"Just waiting," she said in a solemn voice. "I wonder if you'll figure it out as fast as the other boy.... Cedric."

"We will," I said. "Cedric could've figured it out faster if he invited us."

Myrtle let out a small giggle. She gathered a cluster of bubbles and tossed it in the air.

"I have it," I said, biting my lip as the idea popped into my head really suddenly. "We have to rescue something— a prized possession."

"That makes sense," George said, nodding. "Especially with the next line— an hour long you'll have to look and to recover what we took."

"But past an hour— the prospect's black, too late, it's gone, it won't come back," I finished. "Definitely. I have an hour to look for something they're going to— well, take from me. I wonder what that'll be... though."

"The real question is WHERE you're going to be searching," George said. "Surely not the Black Lake?"

"That must be it," I said, pursing my lips. "Why else would mermaids be the ones telling us they took something?"

"How are you supposed to breathe without using your powers?" George asked, looking genuinely concerned.

At this, Myrtle let out a little screech. We whipped our heads wildly toward her as she began to sob.

"Tactless!" She wailed. "Talking about breathing in front of me! When I can't—when I haven't— not for ages!"

"I'm sorry!" George said, looking extremely guilty. "I didn't mean to— I swear."

Myrtle's lips trembled as she contemplated responding. Instead, she just sulked.

"There's something," I said, thinking hard. "A potion— NEWT level, I've heard it's incredibly hard to make."

"A potion to make you...." George began. He looked at Myrtle and winced. "Er— well... um... to make you... not drown while you look?"

"Yeah," I said, trying not to laugh when he said that. "Yeah... I just have to look in the NEWT Potions section."

"We can do that tomorrow," George said. "We should get out of here."

"Alright," I said, concentrating to make the egg return to the side of the pool. "Those lucky ass prefects..."

George smirked. "Race you."

He started swimming before I could even react.

"Cheater!" I hissed as I tried to swim after him.

I heard him laugh as he peeked his head up to see how far behind I was. I swam as hard as I could and dove under the water so he wouldn't see me coming, then popped up right beside him, making him let out a yell and burst out laughing. He stopped and splashed water in my face.

"You got faster," he noticed as he reached the stairs, offering his hand to help me out. As my body came out of the water his jaw went slack and he looked me up and down, his cheeks growing red. He quickly looked away and let go of my hand, clearing his throat.

I bit my lip, seeing his back muscles contracting. Before I could stop myself I stepped closer to him, putting my hand on his back and passing it smoothly over his shoulders to his neck to turn him to face me.

"Hey," I whispered, making him look at me uncertainly. "You're almost there."

"Almost where?" He asked in a low voice.

"Almost at the trust level you were at," I said, looking at my feet as I moved my hands to rest on his chest. "I'm going to be honest with you, you've really earned most of it back."

George's lips curled into the most excited smile I'd ever seen him exhibit.

"Really?" He asked softly. "You mean it?"

"Yes," I said, my cheeks growing hot. "I do. So... be patient. I-I'm almost ready for us to give it another shot."

George placed his hands on my waist, our bodies now making contact.

"We shouldn't," he mumbled.

"Maybe a little bit," I whispered as he leaned down and I brought myself to my toes. "So we can stay motivated..."

"It'll make the waiting unbearable," he said as our faces came closer.

"But I can't take it anymore," I breathed, craning my neck. Just as I was about to press my lips onto his...

I let out a cry of pain as my ankle rolled, the surface too wet for my toes to stay stable. I slipped, falling to the side. George caught me, nearly causing us both to hit the ground.

I burst out laughing as he hugged me to his chest.

"It's a sign," he said. His heart hammered against my ear as he laughed. "I can wait."

"I wish I could say the same," I said, biting my lip as I pushed away from him. He sighed and looked down.

"Is your ankle okay?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said, my voice cracking a bit. "Yeah, it's fine."

He smiled, and looked at me again. Then, he walked to where his towel was and began to dry himself off.

Stupid! I told myself. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I'd nearly kissed him! I wasn't supposed to!

It was getting harder and harder for me to avoid how strong my feelings for him were. It was bloody ridiculous.

After I dried myself off and put my robes on again I removed the spells and cautiously stepped out of the bathroom, my heart beating fast as I grabbed onto George's hand and made us invisible.

Just as we were heading down the staircase, I felt George's body be pulled from me. As we disconnected and became visible I saw his leg get pulled into what I knew must be the trick step that Neville Longbottom always forgot to jump. I fell forward and only did not tumble down the stairs because George threw his arms around me, hugging me to his chest.

However, the egg flew out of my hands and rolled down the stairs, popping itself open and screeching.

"Shit," I mumbled, my eyes wide. "Shit—"

"Turn us invisible!" George hissed.

I concentrated and made us both invisible just as someone yelled "PEEVES!"

"Filch," I heard George say.

Filch, the caretaker, hobbled over immediately, Mrs Norris at his heels.

He grabbed the egg, closed it, and looked at it, suddenly realizing what it was.

"My sweet!" He said to Mrs Norris, "this is a Triwizard clue! PEEVES! YOU HAVE BEEN STEALING!"

Filch began to prowl around for Peeves, and I tried desperately to lift George out of the gap his leg was in, but it was near impossible when trying to keep our hands clasped together so we could remain invisible. If I moved too far my leg would get caught too, or I would fall, and then Filch would know we were there.

"Filch? What's going on?" Snape asked suddenly, appearing at the foot of the stairs.

"It's Peeves, Professor," Filch said, "he threw this egg down the stairs."

"Peeves?" Snape asked. "But Peeves couldn't get into my office."

"The egg was in your office, Professor?" Filch asked.

"No, but I passed my office and saw the torches lit and the cupboard door ajar. Somebody has been searching it!" Snape snarled.

"But Peeves couldn't," Filch said.

"I know that!" Snape said. "I seal my office with a spell none but a wizard could break!"

Mrs Norris, meanwhile, was drawing nearer to us. I realized George and I must smell heavily of soap because of the bubbles.

There was a clunk, and I turned and saw Professor Moody had appeared at the foot of the stairs.

"Pajama Party, is it?" He growled to Snape and Filch.

"Peeves threw this egg downstairs and Snape heard someone break into his office," Filch said.

Moody stepped closer to them. His magical eye zoomed over both Snape and Filch.

"Did I hear that correctly, Snape?" He asked slowly. "Someone broke into your office?"

"Yes," Snape said furiously.

"So you reckon it's a student after potions ingredients, eh?" Moody asked. "Not hiding anything else in your office, are you?"

"You know I'm hiding nothing, Moody!" Snape said coldly. "As you've searched my office pretty thoroughly yourself."

Moody smiled— which was something I'd never seen him do before. "Auror's privilege, Snape. Dumbledore told me to keep an eye—"

"Dumbledore happens to trust me!" Snape said. "I refuse to believe he gave you orders to search my office."

"Of course Dumbledore trusts you!" Moody growled. "He's a trusting man, isn't he? Believes in second chances. But me— I say there are spots that don't come off, Snape. Spots that never come off, d'you know what I mean?"

Snape stared angrily at Moody, then suddenly gripped his left forearm as though it'd hurt him.

"Get back to bed, Snape," Moody said, laughing.

"You don't have any authority to send me anywhere!" Snape hissed. "I have as much right to prowl this school after dark as you do!"

"Prowl away!" Moody said coldly. "I look forward to meeting you in a dark corridor some time..."

Snape glared angrily at Moody, full of loathing. "I think I will go back to bed."

"Best idea you've had all night," Moody said. "Now Filch, if you'll just give me that egg—"

"No!" Filch said. "Professor, this is evidence of Peeves' treachery!"

"It is property of one of the champions," Moody said. "Hand it over now."

Muttering some sort of curse, Filch gave it over reluctantly.

Even after Snape and Filch left, Moody stayed behind, his magical eye zooming around wildly.

"I'm going to take a wild guess," he said, as if he was talking to another person. "This is Elizabeth Potter's egg and she's here, Invisible. If she had that Invisibility Cloak of her brother's I'd know if she was here. However since I can't see people who can turn themselves invisible on command..."

I sighed and disconnected myself from George, making us both visible.

Moody chuckled and looked at both of us.

"Close shave," Moody said. "I think this is yours."

He handed the egg back to me and I looked down, a bit ashamed.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Sorry for what?" Moody asked, his magical eye fixating on me. "I'm not going to get you in trouble for trying to figure out the clue."

I smiled a bit, turning around to help George get his leg out of the trick step. Moody chuckled.

"Get back to your Common Room," he said gruffly, limping away.

Breathing heavily I grabbed George's hand, turning us invisible.

We didn't speak until we made it back to the Gryffindor Common Room, where I leaned against the wall and gasped, letting out a short laugh.

"Bloody hell," George said, holding his chest. "I just about had a heart attack—"

"Beth!" Harry said.

I jumped, seeing Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still on the couch. In Ron's hands was the Marauder's Map.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Okay, I'll admit it, I was spying on you and George," Harry said immediately.

"Harry—"

"I'm sorry," he said, looking down. "I just— I'm sorry."

"It's fine," I said. "Is there something wrong though—?"

"When we were looking at the map we noticed something strange," Hermione said timidly, making me raise my eyebrows.

"What did you notice?" I asked.

"Barty Crouch," Harry said. "The one organizing the tournament. He was HERE."

"What?" George and I asked in disbelief. George turned to me and his eyes widened.

"Snape!" He said. "Snape said someone broke into his office— was Crouch near Snape's office?"

"Yes!" Harry said. "He was in there! After that we sort of lost him because well Ginny came in and we don't know where he ended up but— he was HERE."

"Really?" I asked. "But— isn't he ill?"

"Since when is he ill?" George asked bluntly.

"The Yule Ball," I said. "Don't you remember? Percy was there in his place— he said Crouch was ill."

"Right," George said, although it was clear he didn't remember.

"Well what is an ill person doing prowling around school?" I asked. "What did he need here?"

"Dunno," George mumbled. "But he must've taken advantage of the diversion to escape!"

"This is insane," I said. "Something is up with Crouch... something is up."

My eyes widened.

"What?" Hermione asked frantically.

My mouth was dry. I couldn't speak.

"What, Beth?" Harry asked.

I turned to them, my lips quivering.

"I think Barty Crouch put my name in the Goblet of Fire."


	43. Chapter 43

_A/N: THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTER IN THIS ENTIRE STORY! READ CAREFULLY PLEASE <3_

I spent the two remaining weeks before the task doing an insane amount of research on the potion (It's called the Izhar-Bodner Potion, made by a famous Israeli wizard who had a great love for the sea and wanted to swim for a long time and observe the fish).

Like seriously, Madam Pince must have wanted to STRANGLE ME because I kept staying til closing time and checking out more books than I could carry.

Well— that was half of week one consisted of.

The second half of the week was spent convincing Snape to let me come in during other classes to brew as needed. He finally agreed after I implored that it'd make him look good on his yearly Ministry Professor report.

So what I did for a week and a half was brew the hardest potion I had ever brewed, coming in at very specific times to add ingredients. Some nights I had to wake up at one in the morning to go add a specific herb or stir a specific way for a designated amount of time.

The night before the task it was finished and I swear I was so tired I got back to my dormitory and went to bed at six freaking thirty pm. I almost slept through the task, too.

"Beth wake UP!"

I shot out of bed, my eye bloodshot.

"Whatzgoingon?" I mumbled.

"We've been trying to wake you up for the past ten minutes!" Batavia snapped. Katie was standing beside her, holding what looked like a water pitcher.

"Hey!" I hissed, leaping out of bed.

"The second task starts in half an hour!" Katie cried. "We were going to have to wake you up like this! You've been too tired!"

I growled, pushing off the covers and running in and out of the bathroom, succeeding in getting ready within five minutes.

"I just need to get my potion," I said. "Hey— what happened last night after I fell asleep?"

"Oh, McGonagall came and took Harry and Hermione somewhere," Katie said.

"Ah," I said. "Alright— I think maybe the treasure is a person then. They didn't come back, did they?"

"Nope," Batavia said.

"Okay," I said. "Perfect— let me just go get my potion."

"Hurry!" Katie cried as I ran out of the dormitory.

No one was in the Common Room. Damn— I really had slept in. Thank Merlin for friends like Batavia and Katie.

I went into the Potions classroom and got my potion, swirling it around.

"If this doesn't work I'm screwed," I mumbled.

"It will work," a voice said.

I nearly screamed as I turned and saw Snape was behind me.

"Bloody hell!" I said. "What the—"

"I was in my office," he drawled. "You made quite a bit of noise entering my classroom."

"Sorry," I mumbled. "How do you know it will work?"

"I'm the Potions Professor," he said in a boring tone. "I can tell."

"Alright," I said, taking the flask and putting it in my pocket. "Er— Professor?"

"Yes?" He asked, already walking back to his desk.

"Um," I said, looking down. "Look I'm going to be honest with you— I was kind of prowling around the night your office got broken into and well... Harry was kind of observing using the— well— oh whatever you know about it anyway— using the Marauder's Map and he saw Barty Crouch in your storage cabinet. I think he stole those supplies you mentioned."

Snape rubbed his forehead, looking frustrated.

"I'm not even going to bother reprimanding you for sneaking around," he said in a nasty tone. Then his expression became softer, pensive even. "But that piece of information is... interesting."

"I think Barty Crouch put my name in the Goblet of Fire," I said as I headed to the door. "Just thought an adult should know."

"Thank you for telling me, Miss Potter," Snape said, looking annoyed that now he had to do something about it. "I'll be sure to tell the Headmaster. Er— good luck."

"Thanks," I said, offering him a small smile as I sprinted out and to the Black Lake.

When I arrived, Cedric waved, smiling.

"George told me all about how you figured the egg," he said. "You beat my record."

"He told you?" I squeaked.

"Not going to lie he went into a few details," Cedric said, raising his eyebrow. "You almost kissed him."

I blushed, looking down. "I don't know what came over me."

"You really love him, don't you?" Cedric said.

"I do," I said softly.

Cedric grinned. "So, what did you end up preparing for the task?"

"Oh so George didn't tell you THAT?" I asked, feeling grateful.

"Nope," Cedric said, furrowing his brows. "I think he thought I might try and copy you."

That was sweet of him.

"Like you said last time, we're competing against each other," I said, smirking. "Enemies on this battlefield. We're simply friends in real life."

"Fake friend," Cedric said, clutching his chest. Then he shook his head. "Honestly I just chose a bubblehead charm."

My jaw went slack.

"What did you choose?" He asked, his brow furrowing.

"I'm an actual dumbass," I sighed, rubbing my temples. "I chose to make an Izhar-Bodner Potion."

"What even is that?" Cedric asked.

"It makes you breathe underwater," I said bluntly.

"No fair," he hissed. "You're going to get more points for something as ingenious as that."

I laughed. "If I even make it back in an hour."

Cedric shrugged.

"Sonorus!" A voice said behind us.

I whipped around and saw Bagman had stepped up to the platform and amplified his voice. Behind him was Percy— Crouch was a no show again.

"Well all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle!" He said. "They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them."

I looked at Cedric, who had a devilish grin on his face.

"On the count of three, then. One... two... three!"

"May the best one win," he said, leaping into the water.

I pulled the potion out of my pocket and chugged it down. Then I threw my robes off and pulled my wand out. Without hesitating, I jumped in the water.

The water was so bloody cold I felt like I was on fire.

I inhaled deeply, half expecting to cough and die.

But I didn't. When I inhaled I was just fine, and I felt oxygen fill my lungs.

The potion had worked.

Ecstatic, I looked around and saw that Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor had all begun swimming North, where there was a lot of movement of fishes.

"Lumos," I said, igniting my wand. The minimal radius around me that had been illuminated by the sunlight amplified itself. I looked all around me and pursed my lips.

Where to go first.

I dove down instead of to the right, observing everything around me for any indication of where the mermaids might be.

There was complete silence as I swam around in the depths, the light from my wand guiding me around the unfamiliar territory.

I swam deeper and deeper, noticing several strange rocks near the bottom.

When I got near them, my fingers traced the symbols drawn on them.

I smiled. The others were going the wrong way.

I easily interpreted the code thanks to the hours of research I had put in. I found that the path to the mermaids was due south east, and began swimming that way.

It was peaceful. The light green weeds that brushed against me were like a forest, making it the Black Lake more and more familiar as I swam through it.

However, after about ten minutes of swimming I felt something move near me.

I looked behind me and noticed a grindylow— like the one that had been in my godfather's office last year.

Cursing, I pointed my wand at it, blasting the light in his face.

This was a mistake. The water demon let out a screech, and I sensed more movement in all directions.

It lunged at me, grabbing onto my leg and biting me hard.

I screamed, and slashed my wand through the air, stopping the light and instead blasting out a spell that shot the grindylow at least five feet away from me.

But the trouble wasn't over yet. Two more grindylows had grabbed onto me, and were digging their fangs into my leg. I kicked it out wildly, trying to get them off me.

I wanted to use my powers. I NEEDED to use my powers— and let me tell you why.

Because about thirty grindylows had surrounded me, and several of them had latched onto me, ripping at my skin as I shot hexes wildly, managing to only get a few off at once.

I'm pretty sure somewhere around the middle of the attack I started crying in desperation. The water around me was red from my blood, and I was certain I was going to die.

I felt like an idiot. I'm sure I would have been allowed to use my powers but I didn't, because I thought it might ruin my chances of winning.

After awhile I stopped firing spells. My wand was ripped out of my wand and I let my body go limp.

Because I figured, hey, I'm not sacrificing myself for anyone, am I? I can't die.

Luckily, I was right, otherwise that might've been the stupidest thing I ever did and I would have ruined the rest of my life.

It was as though an invisible force told the grindylows to leave me alone. The pain kept going but the water began to clear, and I stopped feeling the attacks.

Gasping for air, I trembled, looking toward where I was supposed to go. I must've lost at least fifteen minutes...

I sucked in all the air I could and swam with all my might down the way I was supposed to. Panting as I treaded through the water I felt my tears dry (which is weird cause I was underwater). My face became stiff, but I ignored the sensation and carried onward.

I reached what looked like an underwater village. Merpeople were all around, their silver fish tails beating the water. In their hands were spears, and they looked apprehensive of my presence.

Ignoring the stares I was receiving, I gasped and kept going.

I weaved myself through what appeared to be little neighborhoods. The merpeople watched me, some of them looking slightly amused.

I arrived at what might have been the merpeople village square. In the middle were four tall stakes, four people attached to them.

On the middle ones were Harry and Hermione, and on either side was Cho and a little blonde girl, probably the younger sister Fleur always talked about.

I swam to them, feeling my legs stinging. When I arrived to Harry I ignored the singing the merpeople were doing and observed how my brother was tied— they were weeds.

Thick weeds, too. I was blinking furiously to stay conscious. The merpeople looked a tad concerned but not enough to lend me a friggin spear.

I had no availability of powers. I had no wand.

So I resorted to my last possibility— my teeth.

I SWEAR THE MERPEOPLE STARTED LAUGHING.

They really did. Their jeers rang in my ears as I began to bite furiously at the weeds.

It was absolutely embarrassing and I don't think I'll ever recover from it.

When I finished I spat out what was in my mouth and grabbed onto Harry. I looked to the north and saw Cedric coming from a distance.

I could beat him.

Forcing myself to muster all my strength, I used the same weeds I'd cut to pull Harry's body to me and tie it around my waist so I could use both arms to swim. The merpeople observed as I began to swim hurriedly back the way I'd came.

When I cleared the village, however, I ascended. No bloody way was I going to take Harry into dangerous territory.

I kicked my numb legs as hard as they would go, propelling myself up.

That's when I noticed Harry's wand was in his pocket.

I wanted to cry of joy. I grabbed it and pointed it straight up.

"Ascendio!" I croaked.

We shot upward, barely breaking the surface of the water. I could see about four hundred meters away, the platform we'd been on.

Feeling my eyes beginning to dampen as my lip trembled, I swam with the last bit of strength I had the entire length, Harry's body weighing me down significantly.

"There's Beth!" Someone in the crowd— probably Batavia— screamed.

My hand reached out wildly and grabbed the edge of the platform. Several people rushed forward and pulled Harry out of the water.

When my body was dragged out by a Hogwarts student, I heard a blood curling scream.

I was immediately ambushed by all my friends and Madam Pomfrey. I could hear them speaking— but it was all muffled.

And another thing— they were really blurry. I couldn't see them that well...

"...lost a lot of blood," I heard Madam Pomfrey say.

"..... she going to die?" I heard Harry sob.

"....better wake up or I will kill her myself," Batavia mumbled.

".....if you die I will never forgive you," Bixby hissed.

I looked up wildly. Madam Pomfrey stuck what felt like a tube down my throat and began pouring liquids into it. Someone else was bandaging my legs and pouring something that felt like flames on it. It hurt like a bitch, lemme tell you that.

I saw another figure rise from the water. My vision cleared enough for me to see it was Cedric with Cho. Immediately after a gong sounded— I think it might've meant the hour was up.

The pain slowly began to fade away, and I gasped ss someone picked me up and moved me to a stretcher that was near where the judges were seated. I turned and saw Fleur beside me.

I didn't pay attention to the people screaming all around me asking if I was okay.

What I noticed is the scratches on her skin were like mine. She must have been attacked as well.

"My little sister!" She was screaming. "I 'ave to go back!"

She turned to me, her eyes wide. "Is she alright? Did you see 'er?"

"Mhm," I mumbled, coughing out. I waved my arms for Madam Pomfrey to move.

"Don't you even think about it!" Madam Pomfrey shrieked.

I ignored her and held my arms out, catching Gabrielle as her body appeared. Fleur screamed and Madam Maxime leapt up, going over to the ten year old girl as she coughed and woke up from her slumber.

"Oh!" Fleur screamed. "Oh— thank you— thank you!"

"Mhm," I sighed, my body falling back against the stretcher.

"No!" Madam Pomfrey hissed angrily as she poured more potion down my mouth. "Miss Potter— I said NO!"

Cedric was laughing on my left side. He was sitting next to the stretcher, holding my hand as I sucked in air painfully, losing all the feeling in my legs.

"Do you feel better?" He asked, several worried faces staring at me from behind him.

"I feel great," I said, giggling. "I can't feel any pain."

"I numbed her," Madam Pomfrey sighed. "The pain would make her faint."

"That's funny," I sighed.

"BETH!"

I giggled as I saw George had descended the upstairs part of the platform. He pushed aggressively past people and even shoved Cedric out of the chair, coming closer and touching my face.   
  


George's POV  
  


Did I care I'd just shoved Cedric so hard he basically ended up in another country?

No.

"You're like a grandma," Beth giggled uncontrollably, waving her hand to pat my cheek.

"She's a little disoriented right now," Madam Pomfrey said, still looking furious with Beth for summoning Gabrielle. "I supposed that happens when you don't follow instructions!"

Beth pouted, which made me let out a nervous laugh. I felt my eyes fill with tears.

This stupid, STUPID bloody tournament. She looked absolutely awful— I couldn't even begin to imagine the pain she must be feeling.

Her legs were cut all over the place, like sharp objects had attacked her. I assumed it was the things Fleur mentioned— the grindylows. She had similar markings.

But Beth... bloody hell.

Her face was untouched. But from her shoulders down she had random slashes across her skin. Her arms only had few but like I said before... her legs were cut so much I was worried there was no skin left on them, just inner flesh.

"Oh boo hoo," Beth said, smirking. "I can't feel my legs. I'm not DYING."

"I thought you might die!" I hissed, stroking her hair. She looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "I really thought you might!"

"Silly," she said, clapping her hands and laughing a bit maniacally. "So silly. Why would I die? I still need to marry you!"

My heart stopped.

"M-Marry me?" I asked. "What makes you say that?"

"Say what?" Beth asked, her eyes shifting around. She began to shiver. "What—"

"Excuse me, please, she's going into shock," Madam Pomfrey hissed, pushing me off the seat.

My heart was now hammering in my chest.

I'll let you in on a secret. Something I've been trying to figure out.

When Beth went to get the Runes book that day in the library, I tried desperately to figure out a plan with Cedric, but he didn't really know what to do— and for that matter neither did I.

I think... well I think it's about time I told Beth what I saw in the Mirror of Erised. I think she deserves to know. Especially now that she... well... the thing in the prefect's bathroom....

Yeah it's definitely time for her to know.

So here. When I sat there, let me just say thirteen year old me really didn't understand the whole concept of desires.

So when I saw my family looking happy I thought it was cool, what I desired was just to have my happy family always.

But then the image had changed.

I hadn't noticed that in the family there, Beth wasn't present. Instead she had walked in after.

The interesting part was she came (we appeared as adults, okay?) and she was holding her stomach like she was... pregnant. The figure of her in the mirror had walked up to me and kissed me full on the lips.

THAT is when I freaked out.

I didn't want to tell her— hey! I saw a pregnant you in the mirror, I think we were going to have a LITERAL FUCKING BABY TOGETHER.

I couldn't just say that. I didn't even know if she fancied me back then— why would I tell her that? She might look at me differently.

So I was dumb. I hid it from her. And it got me overthinking.

Overthinking a lot. When I saw her becoming friends with Cedric I got to unbelievably jealous and I thought, that's my future wife, get away from her.

This of course confused me more. I wasn't sure just how BIG this desire was— was I just being silly or did I know in my heart that what I wanted more than anything was Beth, the girl I had fallen in love with, to be the only girl I ever had and to ultimately marry her and start a family with her?

So yeah, I became paranoid. Paranoid because I thought she would see I was not good enough.

I mean compared to Cedric— I'm nothing. He's Quidditch Captain and he's a SEEKER for crying out loud, that's the most important player! His family has quite a bit of money. He's well— not ugly... handsome by a girl's standards. He's smart. Nice. Funny.

And yeah I guess people might say I'm funny too. But I have no goals. I don't care about school. Fred and I fool around so much it's the only thing I stay here for. I'm... well I'm poor, like my family. I have lousy grades. I'm a dick, and I proved that by being jealous.

I went overboard comparing myself to Cedric, thinking that what I desired would never come true because there was no way in hell she would choose me over Cedric.

And I let it take over me. I let it drive me crazy. To the point where I accused Beth of cheating. And I feel bloody awful for doing it and if I could take it back, I would.

But now everything is good. I'm realizing this desire— it's real.

For the first time in my life I have set a goal for myself. I have decided I WILL treat Beth the way I would want any guy to treat Ginny. I WILL grow my relationship with her. And someday, who knows when, I WILL marry her because I—I... I have never been so in love with anyone and I can't imagine starting a family with anyone other than the girl who's been my best friend my entire life.

Madam Pomfrey managed to calm Beth down.

Did she know? Had she figured out what I saw? Because if she did—

Beth groaned, and Madam Pomfrey allowed her to sit up. Behind me, Viktor Krum had exited the water with Hermione, and the other guest matrons were treating them. Beth coughed, and looked at me, stuck her tongue out, making a face.

Okay— she was definitely back to normal.

"That medicine was disgusting," she hissed. "Why would you let her give it to me?"

"Have you seen yourself?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. She smirked and rolled her eyes.

"I dunno what I just said," she sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I feel awful. If I insulted you or er— revealed any personal details that might make you question my sanity—"

"You didn't reveal anything stupid," I said, smiling. "Don't worry."

"Thanks," she said, sighing as the judges stood up.

I couldn't bear to see her in so much pain.

The judges talked for awhile. Cedric had decided to go chat with Cho, looking slightly annoyed I'd shoved him out of the way.

What can I say? I'm the best friend AND technically the boyfriend. I get privileges.

The judged came out of their huddle, and Ludo Bagman stepped forward. I gritted my teeth in his direction.

"Ladies and gentleman, we have reached our decision," Bagman said. "Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions as follows...."

Beth looked up eagerly.

"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty five points."

"I deserve zero," Fleur sighed, which made Beth reach over and pat her shoulder.

"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration which was nevertheless effective, and was third to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

There was applause, and Hermione beamed at Viktor.

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble Head Charm, was second to return with his hostage, and returned exactly one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We therefore award him forty seven points."

I looked eagerly at Beth. She was looking more nervous than ever.

"Elizabeth Potter did something all the judges found quite unexpected. We were informed by Professor Snape she spent a week and a half brewing an extremely complex potion known as the Izhar-Bodner Potion, something so advanced that none of the champions would be expected to brew it successfully at their magical level. However, in preparation for the task, Elizabeth succeeded in making an effective potion. She was attacked by quite a large pack of grindylows and lost her wand in the process. However, despite extensive injuries, she was the first to reach the hostages because, according to Merchieftainess Murcus, she cleverly deciphered runes she found at the bottom of the lake that pointed her in the right direction. She returned exactly a minute before the hour was up, being the only champion who arrived on time. For this we award her the entire fifty points."

I leapt up, hugging Beth tightly as she began to cry, burrowing her face in my chest. The Gryffindors in the crowd were screaming like crazy— she was in first place, fair and square.

I could see Cedric was clapping, although he looked jealous. Harry and Hermione had ambushed Beth and joined in the hug I was giving her.

"You're smothering her!" Madam Pomfrey shrieked, yanking me by the back of my shirt and pulling me away. Beth laughed and looked at me, her mouth trembling.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty fourth of June," Bagman finished. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

Madam Pomfrey allowed the other champions and their hostages to head back to the castle but insisted on taking Beth inside herself. I was sort of pushed to the side as several people came to congratulate Beth, including a very excited Professor McGonagall.

A camera flashed, and I was snapped into action.

I saw Beth wince, covering her eyes immediately.

"Hey!" I hissed, snatching the camera from the wizard standing next to none other than the notorious Rita Skeeter.

"Excuse you!" He snarled.

"She gets panic attacks with those flashing lights!" I snarled. "Don't you DARE take pictures of her without her consent."

Rita Skeeter looked thoroughly interested.

"And who might you be?" She asked.

"None of your business," I hissed.

"Hmm," she said, looking me up and down with distaste. "I'll determine that."

Then she turned on her heel and left the platform.

"Can you ban her?" I snapped to Dumbledore, who just so happened to be walking beside me. He looked startled.

"I believe I will, Mr Weasley," he said, smiling. "Tell Miss Potter excellent work for me, will you?"

I smiled and nodded, jogging to catch up with Beth as she went back into the castle.

When they got her situated in the Hospital Wing, she curled up in a fetal position.

"Hey guys," I said, seeing that about twenty people were crowded around her as Madam Pomfrey attended the other champions. "Give her space."

Harry looked at me, smiling.

"Thanks," he said as people began to leave.

"Er— no problem," I said.

It was awkward. This kid— basically another brother of mine— really didn't seem to like the idea of me dating his sister.

Harry seemed to know what I was thinking.

"You can be her boyfriend if you want," Harry said, shrugging as Beth's bedside became empty. "Just don't force her into the relationship. I know she's taking time."

"I won't, I promise," I said. Harry nodded and simply walked away behind Hermione and Ron.

"George...." Beth whimpered.

I darted over to her bed and saw she was crying.

"Hey," I said, sitting down beside her, reaching my hand out to stroke her hair. "What's wrong?"

"It hurts so bloody bad," she whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"I know," I said. "But you'll feel better soon—"

"I was stupid," she said softly. "When they attacked me."

"I'm sure you weren't—"

"I was!" She shrieked, letting out a sob and holding onto her pillow. "I stopped fighting!"

I said nothing, and instead looked at her. I wasn't sure what she meant.

"I gave up," she croaked. "I couldn't keep fighting. I couldn't see anything in the water but blood. I just felt so much pain.... I let them take my wand and I let my body go limp. I stopped fighting for my life."

"Beth...." I said, coming closer and rubbing her back. "It was overwhelming. You went through something so unimaginably hard. Hell— I would have stopped fighting before you did. I'd have given up right away."

She smiled slightly. "I relied on my immortality," she said. "I just assumed I would live. I could have actually died. It could have ended up being a decision that killed me. I almost let myself die."

She burst into tears, and buried her face in her pillow, her hands clenched to it.

"Beth," I said softly, stroking her hair and reaching my hand out to hold hers. 

"I-I'm a coward!" She wailed. "A b-bloody c-coward! I g-gave up!"

"You are the bravest person I have ever met," I said fiercely, making her look up at me. "You have been through more than anyone in this entire school and you have stayed so unbelievably strong it makes me and everyone else jealous. You fought Quirrel alone, sacrificing yourself for Harry. You dealt with Tom Riddle trying to seduce you. You faced a thousand dementors and a werewolf on your own. You got thrown into a dangerous Tournament and you are fighting like a REAL champion— hell, Beth, you're in first place! You are the least cowardly person I know. You are strong. Stronger than anyone I have ever met in my life. You're incredibly brave. Don't ever say you're not. You're the truest Gryffindor here."

Beth had sat up now, holding my hand tightly as she looked down and cried.

"You're okay now," I whispered, wrapping my arms around her. "You're okay. I'm here. I'm not leaving."

Beth pulled away slightly, her eyes filled with tears.

"Yes," she said, her voice cracking.

"What?" I asked, wiping her eyes with my sleeve.

She smiled, her face red and blotchy. She still looked so beautiful.

"Yes," she repeated. "Yes. George, yes. Yes, I want to be your girlfriend again."

I couldn't speak. 

"Are you sure—?"

In response, she slammed her lips on mine, pulling me so close to her I swear we became one person.


	44. Chapter 44

A lot has happened since February. A lot.

After the second task, stupid Rita Skeeter published an article about me supposedly being in a love triangle with Cedric and George. The boys had stood up together on the Gryffindor table and called out for the whole school that it wasn't true— Cedric was dating Cho, and I was dating George.

When the excitement of that died down, Sirius and my godfather came to visit. We met them a bit aways from Hogsmeade when we snuck up to the mountains. My godfather and Sirius proposed their theories for whether they felt Barty Crouch had anything to do with me being entered into the tournament— but we couldn't figure anything out.

Then in May, exactly a month before the task, Viktor and I found a dead Barty Crouch in the Forbidden Forest when we went on a jog. Viktor had been wanting to ask for advice on how he should ask Hermione to visit him over the summer, and then he'd tripped— which made me notice that a person's leg was sticking out from under the bush. When Viktor removed the leaves and found Crouch, I'd screamed and accidentally summoned Dumbledore, Snape, and Bagman to where we were, which startled them a great deal— although not as much as it startled them to find out why I'd summoned them there to begin with.

In early June I took my OWLs, against McGonagall's advice. I think I did rather good. I studied hard, asking questions where I needed to and merely trying to remind myself that the OWLs wouldn't be that bad, considering I'd taken two a year before. Like I said before— I think I did rather good. I even think I might have scraped an O in nearly every subject.

It's currently the afternoon of the twenty fourth of June. Today is the final task. Cedric and I are pleased— it means we'll finally be free to enjoy our lives and not have to stress about something so stupid.

He was jealous, for a little while, about me being in first place. But he got over it.

"I think I'm going to fail," Cedric sighed as he, Fred, George, and I walked to the library for our free period.

"You're not going to fail Charms, mate," George said. "I'M going to fail Charms."

"I didn't even study," Fred said bluntly.

"Well technically you did," I said, raising an eyebrow. "All three of you helped me study for my Charms OWL and reviewed your own notes from sixth year with me for extra knowledge— you'll be fine."

"Yeah," Fred said, snapping his fingers. "Yeah.. you're right, we did."

"I'm still going to fail," Cedric sighed. "You know— why don't we just NOT take the free period to study and instead sneak over to the kitchen?"

"Did I just hear Cedric Diggory ask to skive off studying in order to SNEAK into the kitchen?" George asked, clutching his chest.

"We're horrible influences," Fred said, wiping a fake tear from his face. "Horrible, horrible—"

"Potter! Diggory!"

Cedric and I turned around lazily, seeing McGonagall was approaching us.

"The champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall in about five minutes," she said, beaming slightly.

"But the task's not til tonight!" Cedric said.

"I'm aware of that, Diggory," McGonagall said, looking taken aback at his remark. "The champions families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them."

"Oh," Cedric said, looking embarrassed. "Wow— why didn't they tell us before?"

"I suppose it was intended as a surprise," McGonagall said. "Now get going— Weasleys, you may go as well."

"Score!" George said, high fiving Fred as McGonagall left. "Say— I wonder how come we're invited."

I rolled my eyes. "Isn't it obvious? YOUR family is here because they're also MY family. The Dursleys wouldn't turn up if their life depended on it."

"Ah," George said, smirking and putting his arm around me, kissing my cheek. "Right."

"Reckon Mum will die of shock," Fred said as we turned and walked back the way we'd come. "You didn't tell her you two were dating."

George grinned sheepishly. "She'll be fine."

Cedric laughed as he pushed open the door of the room we were set to meet in.

I was ambushed by Bill, who picked me up and spun me around, making my legs collide with George's chest. He, in turn, staggered backward and was caught by Fred, who was grinning.

"Hi!" I said excitedly as Bill put me down.

"Beth!" Mrs Weasley cried, running over from the table she had been sitting at. She threw her arms around me, making me squeak as I felt myself stop being able to breathe.

"Oh you poor thing!" She said, pulling away and cupping my face in her hands. "Dumbledore told us how bad it got after the second task— we should have come! I'm so sorry—"

"It's okay!" I said, smiling. "It's fine— I'm better now... Mum."

She let out a small sob and hugged me again. From behind her, Bill was talking intently with George while Fred smirked and crossed his arms.

When Mrs Weasley finally let me go, Bill nonchalantly stepped forward as if he hadn't just been talking with the twins.

"Charlie wanted to come, but he couldn't get time off," he said, patting my shoulder. "He said you were incredible against that Horntail."

I grinned. I felt a pair of eyes glancing in my direction and craned my neck slightly to see who was behind Bill.

My lips curled into a devilish smile when I notice Fleur was eyeing Bill with great interest over her mother's shoulder.

Of course, I went right into her mind.

Let me just say I was not expecting to see a fantasy with her talking to Bill and running her hands through his hair.

And Mrs Weasley wanted him to cut it off! It's what gets him girls!

"Is the Fat Lady still here?" Bill asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Oh yeah," George said, smirking.

"She was here in my time," Mrs Weasley said. "She gave me such a telling off one night when I got back to the dormitory at four in the morning—"

"What were you doing out of your dormitory at four in the morning?" Bill asked curiously.

"Your father and I had been for a nighttime stroll," Mrs Weasley said, her eyes twinkling. "He got caught by Apollyon Pringle— he was the caretaker in those days— your father's still got the marks—"

Then suddenly she snapped her gaze at twins and raised an eyebrow.

"That reminds me," she said, her eyes still twinkling. "When were you planning to tell me you BOTH had girlfriends?"

Fred looked panicked, and George just shrugged.

"Your father told me you both did at Christmas when I was wondering who you were going to take to the Yule Ball. Never said who— but I want to meet them!" Mrs Weasley said, her hands on her hips. She turned to me, shaking her head. "And I cannot believe what Rita Skeeter wrote about you after your interview! She publicized your panic attack... saying you were with Amos' boy— I haven't read a single one of her articles since— although I've heard some rumors since February..."

"Skeeter is a liar," Fred sighed. "Beth has never had feelings for Diggory."

"Well that's not exactly what I meant," she said, looking at George. "I heard she wrote that you both were together."

"Mum," George sighed, stepping forward, "I'm going to tell you the entire truth and you're going to listen."

Mrs Weasley raised an eyebrow.

"I fancied Beth," he said, which made Bill smirk in amusement. "I asked her out at Christmas last school year—"

Mrs Weasley's mouth dropped open. She looked at me, her hands flying to cover her mouth.

"George!" She cried. "How couldn't you tell me—? Oh how lovely I— I— oh..."

She ran to me and hugged me again. "Oh Beth," she said, sounding like she was going to sob. "A whole year of you both being in a relationship and no one told me!"

I awkwardly grinned. Bill looked genuinely surprised— he definitely knew it hadn't been continuous.

Mrs Weasley looked at George. "This entire time?" She said, sounding slightly indignant.

"Well," George said, looking at me.

"Yes," I said, smiling. She didn't need to know. Not yet. "Yes. I-I'm sorry we didn't tell you."

"Nonsense!" She said, starting to tear up again. "Oh I'm so glad! George found a lovely, lovely girl and you... you'll be official family in a few years!"

"Mum!" George hissed, his eyes wide.

"Don't be silly George," Mrs Weasley said, hugging him as well. "If you marry anyone other than Beth I'll be cross!"

George looked sheepishly at me and I let out a laugh.

I only had one question— why did he look so uncomfortable at the mention of marriage?

"Is that Elizabeth Potter?"

I turned and smiled, seeing Mr Diggory and his wife coming over with Cedric.

"Hi," I said, shaking Mr Diggory's hand.

"Cedric's been telling us about that potion you made!" Mrs Diggory said, pulling me into a hug. "I'm so glad he has smart friends— I worry he spends too much time with people who aren't motivated!"

I grinned awkwardly at Cedric.

"Amos! Penelope!" Mrs Weasley said happily, going over to greet them.

"Molly," Mrs Diggory said, putting her arm around Mrs Weasley and kissing her cheek.

"They made it, didn't they?" Mr Diggory said with a chuckle.

"Yes, the poor things!" Mrs Weasley said, squeezing my cheek and smiling, still incredibly happy upon learning George and I were dating. "But after today— you can relax! Be kids again!"

"Beth can be a kid," Cedric said, smirking. "I'm seventeen."

"Oh shut up," I hissed, although George and Fred had laughed and high fived Cedric.

"Oho!" Mr Diggory said pleasantly. "Are you all friends?"

"Yeah," Cedric said, smiling. "They're like my school family."

Mrs Diggory beamed at me, then at the twins.

"Got a plan all worked out, you two?" Mr Diggory asked.

"Eh," I said, shrugging to Cedric.

"We're both just going to wing it," Cedric said. "Let the best one win."

"He's so noble," Mr Diggory said proudly. "That's my boy...."

After a few hours of us all hanging out and talking we were joined by Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny, and shared a delicious meal.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Dumbledore announced as nightfall began to arrive.

"In five minutes time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr Bagman down to the stadium now."

When I stood up, the Gryffindor table burst into applause.

"You go Beth!" A little second year girl yelled to me. I smiled and waved at her. George stood up and hugged me, kissing my forehead.

"I'll sent someone to raid the kitchens during the task to have a feast ready for when you win," he whispered. "I love you."

"I love you too," I whispered back, to which I heard Mrs Weasley let out a sigh.

Blushing, I scurried over to the entrance of the Great Hall and caught up to Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor.

"Zis is it," Fleur said.

"After this, ve vill have normal lives again," Viktor continued.

Cedric looked at all of us and grinned. "It was a pleasure getting to know you all and getting to compete with you."

"Likevise," Viktor said. "I hope ve vill all be friends."

"You all 'ave invitations to my wedding in ze future!" Fleur said happily. "I want all of you zere and you— Beth— you 'ave to be one of my bridesmaids! Zen Viktor and Cedric, you can sit near ze front!"

"I'm honored," Cedric said, grinning.

"Have anyone in mind to fill the groom position?" I asked with a smirk as we walked to the now unrecognizable Quidditch field. It had become a maze— a twenty foot high hedge running all around the edge of it.

"Oh, not really," Fleur said, looking at me. "Although you did say you would introduce me to ze other Weasley boys when I told you I liked red 'eaded boys..."

"I haven't forgotten," I said, remembering the day she'd mentioned it.

" _So 'as your situation with zat Weasley boy been resolved?" Fleur asked, carefully buttering herself some toast._

_"He has yet to discuss us being friends again," I said, which made Fleur let out a short, mirthless laugh. "But it's getting there."_

_"Zat family makes very 'andsome boys," Fleur said bluntly. "I 'ave always liked zose red 'eaded boys."_

_"You're in luck," I said. "They have more brothers— older ones."_

_"Hmm," Fleur said, smiling. "You will 'ave to introduce me."_

"Well?" Fleur giggled. "You better keep your promise."

"I will, I will," I said, rolling my eyes.

We stopped walking as we arrived to the entrance of the maze, where several Professors and Ludo Bagman were waiting.

"We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze," McGonagall said. "If you get into difficulty and wish to be rescued, send red sparks into the air, and one of us will come get you. Do you understand?"

"Yes," we all said.

"Off you go then!" Bagman said to the Professors.

By that time the stands had filled themselves with an audience, so after wishing us all (especially me) luck, Bagman amplified his voice.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he said. "The third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand. In first place, with eighty eight points— Miss Elizabeth Potter of Hogwarts school!"

The Gryffindors in the crowd went wild.

"In second place, with eight five points— Mr Cedric Diggory, also of Hogwarts school!"

I clapped very enthusiastically with the rest of the crowd.

"In third place, with eighty points, Mr Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!"

Loud cheers in both Bulgarian and English broke out. Karkaroff was standing off to the side, looking nervous...

"And in fourth place— Miss Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons Academy!"

Mrs Weasley and Bill applauded politely from the stands. I noticed Fleur shot Bill a smile, and I felt her turn her veela charm on right as she looked at him.

"So..." Bagman said, making me snap back to reality. "On my whistle, Elizabeth! three...two...one..."

The loud shrill of the whistle broke out, and I sprinted forward into the maze.

After I'd maneuvered through a few hedges, I stopped and lifted my wand.

"Lumos," I said, illuminating my path. "Alright... Point me."

The wand spun itself around and pointed to my right. Smiling, I knew that was north, and if I went northeast... I'd find the center of the maze.

I moved down the path before me. Surprisingly, it remained completely empty eve after I'd walked for a good five minutes.

That was my first indication that something wasn't right. Was I being made to feel safe only for the judges to surprise me with something more dangerous than a dragon?

I heard a movement behind me and whipped around, only to see nothing there.

"Homenum Revelio," I said, waving my wand around.

Nothing.

Blowing air out of my mouth I shook my head. I must just be hallucinating.

I heard a loud yell down the path to my left. Without thinking I sprinted down it, only to run into Cedric, who looked severely shaken, the sleeve of his robe smoking.

"Merlin!" I cried, holding his arm. "What—?"

"Hagrid's Blast Ended Skrewts!" He hissed. "They're enormous— I only just got away."

I looked down the way he'd come and pursed my lips.

"Cedric," I said, my heart hammering in my chest. "I really don't feel good about this."

"Why?" He asked, his brows furrowing.

"I haven't faced anything yet," I said. "Nothing."

"They might have stationed any obstacles closer to the center," Cedric said. "You must have been far off."

"I dunno," I said, biting my lip. "I've used the point me spell— I'm headed the right way. I can't be that far."

"Then maybe you're heading straight for a really big one," Cedric said. "The path was cleared to slam a single difficult obstacle down for you rather than several little ones."

"Maybe," I said, hearing a snarling sound. The skrewts must be getting nearer.

"I'm going to keep going," Cedric said, nodding.

"Be safe," I mumbled as he sprinted down the way I had originally been headed.

I quickly tore down another path, trying to put some distance between myself and the skrewts.

"Point me," I said again. The wand turned to my left— which was good. I followed it down, weaving my way through a strange series of small paths.

Then I ran into a dementor.

It was bigger than usual, about twelve feet tall. It's hands stretched out and it advanced straight towards me.

Thinking about what happened in the Prefect's bathroom, I slashed my wand through the air. "Expecto Patronum!"

My silvery hippopotamus burst out of my wand and ran (hippos run really fast, in case you didn't know) right at the dementor. It collided with it, and the dementor stumbled.

"Oh damn— you're not a dementor!" I hissed, remembering our Patronus lessons last year. "You're a boggart— Riddikulus!"

The dementor became pure smoke.

Breathing heavily, I backed against the hedge.

"Okay," I said aloud, my voice trembling. "Something is wrong. My boggart isn't supposed to be a dementor."

But no one was around to confirm that, or argue against it, for that matter.

I reluctantly kept going down the path, my wand being held tightly in my hand.

I continued down the path, now growing uncertain of my surroundings. I moved quickly, and I looked around so often my neck began to hurt.

I heard footsteps behind me, and whipped around to see what appeared to be a chimaera standing there, pawing the ground, about to leap at me.

"Stupefy!" I cried. "Furnunculus!"

The chimaera roared as boils appeared all across its fur, it's legs rigid. I slashed my wand in the air again and shot a stinging hex at it, which made it let out another roar before it turned and ran the other way.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" I mumbled.

Then I heard a scream— a female scream.

It came from behind me, where the chimaera had just disappeared to. I sprinted back that way and found that all that lingered was the sound of what I was certain had been Fleur's scream. She was nowhere in sight.

"Homenum revelio!" I snapped, goosebumps forming on my skin. Something was really wrong.

Nothing! It was impossible, my senses were tingling— the sound had come from right here, I knew that for a fact.

In the minutes I spent looking all over the path for Fleur, I grew careless of what might come at me from the other paths.

I heard a hiss and turned to see a Blast Ended Skrewt had wandered in my direction. Cedric was right— they had grown to be enormous. The skrewt must have been ten feet long.

I leapt back as it blasted fire from its end. I managed to keep my chest and face safe— but not my legs or arms.

The fireball grazed my leg, making me scream as I staggered back, barely avoiding another fireball as it came right for my stomach.

I rolled on the floor as the skrewt hissed and launched another blast in my direction. Taking advantage of the limited time I had to hit the skrewt's soft underbelly, I flicked my wand and launched another stinging hex.

The skrewt let out what sounded like a howl. I got up and jumped out of its range just as it furiously shot another even larger fireball where I'd been. I aimed my wand with incredible precision to its underbelly.

"Impedimenta!" I yelled.

The skrewt froze, and I took the opportunity to sprint as far away as possible back the way I had come after hearing Fleur's scream.

I ran and ran until I heard nothing but my own breathing, and my heart hammering in my chest.

"Point me," I croaked, wincing as I heaved, trying to gather more oxygen.

I seemed to be getting closer. Northeast was directly down the way I was headed. I couldn't see what was ahead because a heavy layer of fog was in my way— but I thought perhaps all I needed to do was keep walking.

I had only taken a few steps when I heard voices from a path I'd passed— which was perpendicular to the one I was on.

"What are you doing, Viktor?" I heard Cedric's panicked voice say. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

"CRUCIO!"

I tore down the path where I heard the voices as soon ad Cedric's yells filled the air.

I turned a corner at incredible speed and saw Viktor, his eyes glassy, his wand pointed forcefully at Cedric, who was writhing on the floor.

"Stupefy!" I cried. "Finite incantatem!"

Viktor fell to the ground, rigid.

Cedric groaned.

"Cedric!" I screamed, running to him and dropping to my knees.

"B-Bloody hell," Cedric croaked, his arms wrapped tightly around himself. He was shaking. "I don't believe it.... he crept up behind me.... I heard him... I turned around... and he was pointing his wand right at my face..."

"His eyes were glassy," I said, my voice cracking. "He wasn't himself."

"What are you saying?" Cedric asked softly, wincing as he sat up.

"I think he was under the Imperius Curse," I said, my lip trembling.

Cedric looked puzzled. "Beth you don't seriously think—"

"I do!" I cried, looking around. "Listen— something is seriously wrong here. I heard Fleur scream and I went to help and she was GONE and I swear I went the right way. And now this— I dunno about you but I don't fancy being alone in this maze anymore."

"Beth it's probably just part of the task—"

"Is it really?" I asked, jabbing a finger furiously in Viktor's direction. "Something is wrong."

"Fine, we'll go through the rest of the maze together, if it makes you feel better," Cedric sighed. "Er— should we leave him here?"

"Yes," I said, waving my wand so a shower of red sparks flew high into the air, hovering over Viktor's body. "They can come collect him."

Cedric nodded and I waved for him to follow me back the path I'd been going.

"Sure you know what you're doing?" He asked uncertainly.

"Positive," I said, although I felt myself shaking. "It was this way..."

We walked in silence down the foggy path. Cedric's breathing was shallow and unsteady.

"Beth," he mumbled, "what if we both make it to the cup right now?"

"Are you kidding me?" I asked. "We're both from Hogwarts— who cares— I say we take that cup together."

"Really?" He asked.

"I never cared about winning," I said. "I didn't even sign up for this."

My eyes widened. "Wait a minute. Signing up— Fleur disappeared... then Viktor attacked you— Whoever wanted to kill me when they signed me up has a chance to do so right now."

Cedric raised his wand higher. "I'm sure it's nothing. Besides— that's not happening. They'll kill you over my dead body."

"They're not killing anyone, then," I said, shaking my head, although I was growing afraid for Cedric and I's safety.

"What's that?" He mumbled, ignoring what I said and pointing ahead.

An enormous figure stood about ten feet in front of us. As the fog cleared, I saw it was a sphinx.

"You are very near your goal," she said, looking at us intently. "The quickest way is past me."

"What's the riddle?" I asked, pursing my lips.

The sphinx looked amused. She looked directly at me and sat down upon her hind legs, right in the middle of the path.

" _First think of the person who lives in disguise, who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies._

_"Next tell me what's always the last thing to mend, the middle of middle and the end of the end?_

_"And finally give me the sound often heard, during the search for a hard to find word._

_"Now string them together and answer me this, which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"_

Cedric and I looked blankly at each other.

"Can you say it again... but slowly?" Cedric asked.

The sphinx blinked and did so.

I looked right at him and frowned.

"Okay. Middle of middle and end of the end— I've heard that one in another riddle before, that's the letter 'd,'" I said.

"I'll trust you on that," Cedric said. "Er— let's see... the sound often heard during the search for a hard to find word.... er— oh. Er. I just said that."

I was so nervous I laughed. "Okay. 'Der.' Um... I'm not sure—"

"Or um," Cedric said, looking crestfallen.

"'Dum' doesn't make sense in any context I think you had it right the first time," I said. "Let's... look at the first line."

"Think of the person who lives in disguise, who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies," Cedric recited. "A liar? A crook? A bandit?"

"Probably simpler than that," I said. "It appears we're making words... it's bound to be something small."

"Who else lives in disguise and lies a lot?" Cedric asked. "Peeves."

"Don't be stupid," I said, giggling. "Um... what about spy?"

"Spy," Cedric said, looking up at the sky. "A spy... and then d... and er... yes! String them together— what creature we would be unwilling to kiss— spider!"

The sphinx nodded, moving away to clear us a path.

"You're brilliant," I said, smiling as Cedric and I both tore into a sprint down the foggy path.

It was exhilarating. Solving the riddle had alleviated a lot of my nervous feeling. Maybe it would all be fine— the sphinx hadn't killed us. Perhaps whoever wanted to kill me had bet I would be too stupid to figure it out— and honestly if Cedric hadn't been there I doubt I would have.

Our wands raised high we sharply turned a corner. I gave a cry of happiness as we saw the Triwizard Cup, positioned on top of a small hedge in the center of the maze.

"Together?" Cedric asked, tucking his wand in his pocket. I did the same and smiled, nodding.

"Together," I said. I grabbed onto his hand and we both walked forward, touching the cup with our free hands.

I didn't know what I expected to happen, but I didn't expect my entire world to spin abruptly.

I gripped onto the cup and everything began to move as if controlled by a hurricane. I felt my feet slam onto the ground and Cedric and I both fell to the floor, the cup bouncing away from us.

I sat up immediately, rubbing my head.

"Where ARE we?" Cedric asked, getting up. He reached his hand out to pull me up and I looked around.

"This isn't any place I recognize," I said, walking forward cautiously.

Cedric stepped forward and looked down at the Triwizard Cup. He chuckled and shook his head.

"What?" I asked.

"The cup is a Portkey," he said.

"What?" I asked again, my heart leaping into my throat. "But why—"

"Maybe this is why it was so easy for you at first," Cedric said. "Maybe THIS is the real task."

"I don't think so," I mumbled, noticing at last where we were. It was some sort of graveyard.

I instinctively reached into my pocket and pulled my wand out, Cedric doing the same thing.

"Let's explore, shall we?" He asked, looking down the long row of enormous headstones for the graves.

"I have a really bad feeling about this," I said, my heart beating abnormally fast. "Cedric seriously— this has been happening to m all night I think we should just g back to the maze and exit and ASK if this is part of the task."

"Aw, come on Beth," Cedric said, shaking his head and smiling. "You're the future Mrs George Weasley— let's have an adventure!"

"Cedric something is WRONG," I said, turning around and looking behind us. "Please you've got to believe me—"

"Kill the spare," a voice hissed behind me.

I whipped around just as someone yelled "Avada Kedavra!" and a green light shot out from the way Cedric was headed— hitting him right in the chest and sending him flying through the air.

I let out a blood curling scream, my hands flying to cover my mouth as I dropped to my knees, my hands shaking.

Cedric's gray eyes were wide open, and blank, staring right at me, his mouth curved as if he had been about to speak.

I reached my trembling hand out to his neck, and pressed my fingers to it. There was no pulse.

He was dead.


	45. Chapter 45

I was still screaming and sobbing hysterically when Wormtail, that rat, came out from behind a large tombstone I could now see was labeled 'Tom Riddle,' his right arm occupied with a strange and skeletal baby, his left holding the wand that had killed Cedric, and was now wrapping me in cords that left me bound so tightly I felt the closed wounds on my legs from the grindylows bursting open again.

Wormtail laughed as I let out a loud cry of pain, pain that was coming from my physical injuries and emotional injuries. He was conjuring several items— a large cloak, a cauldron, a knife... but I wasn't paying too much attention.

Because I was bound, unable to move, my face right beside Cedric's. His eyes looked into mine without any life behind them.

He would never play Quidditch again.

He would never graduate Hogwarts.

He would never become the Healer I knew he truly wanted to be.

He would never grow up and marry Cho.

He would never attend Fleur's wedding.

He would never attend MY wedding.

Tears streamed down my face as the cold voice that had ordered Cedric's death spoke.

"Hurry!" It hissed to Wormtail.

"It is ready, Master," the other replied.

"Now...." the voice demanded.

I craned my neck so far I felt a sharp electric pain shoot through my entire body. Wormtail had opened the blankets to fully expose the ugly baby thing inside, and had dropped it into the cauldron.

"Let it drown," I whispered, shaking so furiously my tears began to splash onto Cedric's face. "Let it drown... no... no..."

Wormtail raised his wand. "Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!"

"No," I moaned, my lips trembling as the ground open right near my feet and the remains of a bone burst out, floating to the cauldron and splashing into it.

Wormtail whimpered. "Flesh— of the servant— w-willingly given— you will— revive— your master."

I gagged as he sliced through the hand that was missing a finger. It was cut completely off, and Wormtail's scream pierced the night to accompany the sound of the hand plopping into the now steaming cauldron.

Wormtail gasped in agony, and wrapped the stump left on his wrist with a cloth. Then he moved towards me, and I shook my head fearfully, my heart hammering, as he raised the knife and kneeled down beside me.

"B-Blood of the enemy.... forcibly taken... you will.... resurrect.... your foe."

I screamed loudly as Wormtail slashed the dagger across my arm, opening a rather deep wound.

I gasped and panted, looking at Cedric's blank face. He was staring at me intently, like he was begging me to transform and get us both away.

But even if I wanted to I couldn't have. I was in no state to use any of my powers.

Wormtail had extracted some of my blood and put it in a vial, and had hobbled over and dropped its contents into the cauldron, which bubbled gloriously as it was fed.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, choking on my tears, looking at Cedric, wishing more than anything I could close his eyes, at the very least. "I'm so sorry, Cedric. T-This is my fault. I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

Sparks flew out of the cauldron as the mixture was complete. I squeezed my eyes shut as I heard steam exploded from it, hissing as it made its way through the air.

"No," I mumbled, opening my watery eyes and looking to the skeletal man rising from the cauldron. "No... no... please no...."

"Robe me," he instructed Wormtail. The latter rushed forward with a cloak and draped it over his master, still sobbing from having cut off his hand.

The thin man turned to me, his eyes as red as the day I'd seen him thirteen years ago.

His mouth curved into a cruel smile. "You lay, Elizabeth Potter, upon the remains of my late father. A Muggle and fool... very like your dear mother. But they both had their uses, did they not? Your mother died to defend you as a child... and I killed my father, and see how useful he has proved himself, in death..."

Voldemort laughed, pacing along the grass and looking at me, his eyes staring into my soul.

"You see that house upon the hillside, Potter?" Voldemort hissed. "My father lived there. My mother, a witch who lived here in this village, fell in love with him. But he abandoned her when she told him what she was... He didn't like magic, my father..."

What do I care? I wanted to scream. You killed one of my best friends! I will kill you too—

"He left her and returned to his Muggle parents before I was even born, Potter, and she died giving birth to me, leaving me to be raised in a Muggle orphanage," Voldemort said. "But I vowed to find him... I revenged myself upon him, that fool who gave me his name... Tom Riddle..."

His eyes fixated on something in the sky.

"Listen to me, reliving family history," he said. "Why, I am growing quite sentimental. But look, Elizabeth! My TRUE family returns..."

The sound of cloaks swishing filled the sky. All around the graveyard people began to appear, hooded and masked. Death Eaters.

They all moved forward cautiously, in awe of the thin man standing before them. Voldemort observed them, waiting for them to stand around him. One of the Death Eaters fell to his knees, crawled to Voldemort, and kissed the hem of his black robes.

The others began to imitate them, which made Voldemort seem amused. I was gasping for air now, feeling the ropes digging into my flesh. My tears were try against my face now, and I was shivering so hard my teeth were rattling inside my mouth.

"Welcome, Death Eaters," Voldemort said softly. "Thirteen years... thirteen years since we last met. Yet you answer my call as though it were yesterday... we are still united under the Dark Mark then... or are we?"

He sniffed into the air, his slit like nostrils flaring.

"I smell guilt," he said flatly. "There is a stench of guilt upon the air. I see you all, whole and healthy, with your powers intact— such prompt appearances! And I ask myself... why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore eternal loyalty?"

None of them spoke, probably out of fear.

"And I answer myself," Voldemort said. "They must have forgiveness? I do not forgive, I do not forget. Thirteen long years... I want thirteen years' repayment before I forgive you. Wormtail here has paid some of his debt already, have you not, Wormtail?"

Wormtail simply sobbed, holding his stump.

"You returned to me, not out of loyalty, but out of fear of your old friends," Voldemort hissed. "You deserve this pain, you know that, don't you?"

I would have laughed if I didn't feel so horrible.

"Yes Master," Wormtail moaned. "Please Master... please..."

"Yet you helped me return to my body," Voldemort continued. "Worthless and traitorous as you are, you helped me... and Lord Voldemort rewards his helpers..."

He flicked his wand in the air. Molten silver burst out and flowed through the air, shining against the moonlight. It shaped itself into a human hand and went and fixated itself on Wormtail's stump, attaching itself to his flesh.

Wormtail held it up and let it catch the light, marveling at it. He flexed his fingers in amazement.

"My Lord," he gasped. "Master... it is beautiful... thank you, thank you..."

He rushed forward and fell to his knees, kissing Voldemort's robes.

"May your loyalty never waver again, Wormtail," Voldemort said.

"No, my Lord... never my Lord..." Wormtail wheezed.

He stood back up and took his place in the circle of Death Eaters that had formed. The man he stood next to shivered slightly, staring at Voldemort.

Voldemort appeared this man, looking at him curiously.

"Lucius, my slippery friend," Voldemort said, stopping right in front of Lucius Malfoy. "I am told that you have not renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle torture, I believe? Yet you never tried to find me, Lucius... your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were fun, I daresay, but might not your energies have been better directed toward finding and aiding your master?"

"My Lord I was constantly on alert," Malfoy said. "Had there been any sign from you, any whisper of your whereabouts, I would have been at your side immediately, nothing could have prevented me—"

"And yet you ran from my Mark, when a faithful Death Eater sent it into the sky last summer," Voldemort said. "Yes, I know all about Lucius... you have disappointed me... I expect more faithful service in the future."

"Of course my Lord, of course," Malfoy said immediately. "You are merciful, thank you..."

Voldemort moved on to a space between Malfoy and the next man— large enough for two people to stand. The fact they had assigned places made me want to giggle. I must be going crazy.

"The Lestranges should stand here," Voldemort said. "But they are entombed in Azkaban. They were faithful. They went to Azkaban rather than renounce me. When Azkaban is broken open, the Lestranges will be honored beyond their dreams. The dementors will join us... they are our natural allies... we will recall the banished giants... I shall have all my devoted servants returned to me, and an army of creatures whom all fear..."

He continued to walk around the circle. To some Death Eaters he said nothing. To others he made brief mentions about their loyalty.

"Macnair," he said, to the man who was going to execute Buckbeak last year, "destroying dangerous beasts for the Ministry of Magic now, Wormtail tells me? You shall have better victims than that soon, Macnair. Lord Voldemort will provide..."

"Thank you, Master," Macnair said gratefully. "Thank you...."

Voldemort turned to the two men standing beside Macnair. "And here— we have Crabbe... you will do better this time, will you not, Crabbe? And you, Goyle?"

They both bowed clumsily. Like fathers like sons. I wanted to snort.

"The same goes for you, Nott," Voldemort said, looking at the man beside Goyle.

"My Lord, I prostrate myself before you, I am your most faithful—"

Judging by his son Theodore, Nott must be a coward. And apparently Voldemort thought so too because he cut him off abruptly with a "That will do."

Then he reached a large gap, and looked through it as if he could see people standing there.

"And here we have six missing Death Eaters... three dead in my service," Voldemort said. "One too cowardly to return... he will pay... One, who I believe has left me forever... he will be killed, of course... and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who had already reentered my service."

I wondered who he could possibly be talking about. Karkaroff must be the cowardly one, judging by how afraid he'd been....

"He is at Hogwarts, that faithful servant," Voldemort continued, making my chest tighten, "and it was through his efforts that our young friend arrived here tonight."

All the Death Eaters turned to me.

"Yes," Voldemort said, his lips curling into an evil smile. "Elizabeth Potter has kindly joined us for my rebirthing party. One might go as far as to call her my guest of honor."

Malfoy stepped forward. "Master, we crave to know... we beg you to tell us... how you have achieved this... this miracle... how you managed to return to us..."

"Ah, what a story it is, Lucius," Voldemort said. "And it mostly begins— and ends— with my young friend here."

He walked over to stand beside me, looking down at me as I shivered.

"You know, of course, that they have called this girl and her brother my downfall?" Voldemort hissed softly. "You all know that on the night I lost my powers and my body, I tried to kill her brother? Her mother died in the attempt to save them both— and unwittingly provided them with a protection I admit I had not foreseen... I could not touch either of them."

He kneeled down, extending his long white fingers to rest inches away from my face.

"Her mother left upon her and her brother traces of her sacrifice... this is old magic, I should have remembered it, I was foolish to overlook it... but no matter... I will be able to touch them both now..."

Voldemort pressed his fingertip to my cheek, making me growl.

"I miscalculated, my friends, I admit it," Voldemort said, standing up. "My curse on the boy was deflected by the woman's foolish sacrifice, and it rebounded upon myself. Aah... pain beyond pain, my friends; nothing could have prepared me for it. The girl saw it all. I was ripped from my body, I was less than spirit, less than the meanest ghost... but still, I was alive. What I was, even I do not know... I, who had gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality."

He then turned back to me, observing me. "My goal was to conquer death. And now, I was tested, and it appeared that one or more of my experiments had worked... for I had not been killed, though the curse should have done it. Nevertheless, I was as powerless as the weakest creature alive, and without the means to help myself... for I had no body, and every spell that might have helped me required the use of a wand..."

He cocked his head in my direction, pacing around the grass. I couldn't feel my legs anymore.

"I remember only forcing myself, sleeplessly, endlessly, second by second, to exist... I settled in a faraway place, in a forest, and I waited.... surely one of my faithful Death Eaters would try and find me... one of them would

come and perform the magic I could not, to restore me to a body... but I waited in vain...."

It appeared all the Death Eaters shivered.

"Only one power remained to me. I could possess the bodies of others. But I dared not go where other humans were plentiful, for I knew that the Aurors were still abroad and searching for me."

"So you got Quirrel," I said, my voice shaking. He looked at me, still smiling sadistically. "You got Quirrel then you got the diary then the information about the Tournament and now we're here, aren't we?"

Voldemort chuckled. "You are intelligent. Yes, I got all that, and I sought the blood of the one who had stripped me of my power thirteen years ago... for the lingering protection his mother once gave him would then reside in my veins too..."

I was confused why he'd used male pronouns until—

"But how to get at Harry Potter?" Voldemort hissed. "For he has been better protected than I think even he knows, protected in ways devised by Dumbledore long ago, when it fell to him to arrange the boy's future. Dumbledore invoked an ancient magic, to ensure the boy's protection as long as he is in his relations' care. Then to my surprise I discovered something quite, quite interesting."

He came closer to me, staring me down with his red eyes, who were flashing with fury.

"I discover that his sister, a child I let live because she was not my concern, has powers that apply to Duquette's Law. Powers that were unimaginable, unpredictable. I must admit I grew uncertain about her... the boy would not leave her side often enough... she already refused my service once.... she would not betray her brother..."

"Then I learn that she has a great fatal flaw," Voldemort said, his lips curling into a more malicious grin. "If she were to sacrifice herself, she would lose her powers. That was my ticket. I would make her sacrifice herself for her brother, and without her protection the boy would not be as safe...."

He raised his wand and pointed it at me. "Crucio!"

I screamed as the spell hit me. An incredible force of pure pain spread through my body. It felt like my bones were on fire, that my skin was peeling off and I was being stabbed on every inch of flesh I had. My eyes rolled to the back of my head and I gagged, my chest tight. I couldn't breathe, couldn't see...

Then the spell stopped, and I groaned as I came to rest on my side again, still staring at Cedric.

"Elizabeth Potter," Voldemort whispered. "You escaped my wrath once out of pure luck. You will not be so lucky now, depending on the choice you make. Yes, you have a choice. You can either join my side, and help bring the downfall of the wizarding world.... or you can be foolish and follow in your mother's footsteps, sacrificing yourself for your brother, and lose all your powers."

He stepped away from me, looking around at his Death Eaters. "What will it be, Elizabeth?"

"I—I," I panted, my body sore, my face stiff, "I—will— never— join— y-you... not... not after— what— you— did..."

Voldemort rolled his eyes.

"So be it," he said. "Untie her Wormtail."

Wormtail came forward, yanking me up and removing the chainlike ropes around me. I gasped as he dropped me on the ground, and I felt my legs tingle. Blood was running down my thighs— the scars had definitely been reopened.

"Summon your wand," Voldemort said, pacing. "You have been taught how to duel, Elizabeth? We bow to each other— oh? Is there a problem?"

I gasped as I stood up, holding my hand out. My wand would not appear.

Voldemort let out a mirthless laugh and turned to his Death Eaters. "One cannot always rely on naturally given power... Wormtail, give her her wand."

Wormtail went forward and gave me my wand, which I snatched from his hands.

"Come, the niceties must be observed," Voldemort said. "Dumbledore would like you to show manners... bow to defeat, Elizabeth..."

The Death Eaters laughed. I didn't comply, instead I stared furiously at every one of them. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of watching me be defeated.

"I said bow," Voldemort hissed, raising his wand.

I did not bow, even though I could feel the curse he sent my way. His eyes widened slightly and he sneered.

"Of course," he snarled. "You're immune to the Imperius Curse. I'd forgotten."

How the hell did he know that?

Voldemort stepped forward, leaving me unable to think it through that much.

"No matter," he snarled. "Now we duel."

I flicked my wand, sending a hex his way, but he was too quick, and I was hit by another Cruciatus Curse before my hex reached him.

I screamed as I fell onto the ground, the feeling of white hot knives piercing my skin now amplifying itself all over my body.

When it stopped I leapt to my feet. I didn't realize I was sweating, although I was. It felt like my heart was about to explode.

"You'd rather suffer than join me?" Voldemort hissed. "The world does not care about you, Elizabeth Potter. You have no scar, you are nowhere near as important as your brother..."

Angrily I slashed my wand through the air. He blocked my hex with ease.

"You are not special," he continued. "You have the greatest weakness because of your greatest strengths. Will anyone care when you lose your powers?"

I sneered and shot another hex, which hit a Death Eater behind him.

"Give up, Elizabeth!" Voldemort hissed, shooting another Cruciatus Curse my direction, which I barely dodged. "You can save more people by joining me!"

"Over MY dead body!" I screamed, feeling a surge of power through me. I felt electric shocks burst all over my skin and I found myself now invisible.

"We are not playing hide and seek, Elizabeth!" Voldemort snapped. "You cannot hide from me. Does this mean you are tired of our duel? That you have given up all hope? Does this mean that you would prefer me to summon your brother and torture him instead? Come out and play, Elizabeth... see how fun the Dark side can be.."

I felt adrenaline rush through my veins like never before. I became visible, and two knives appeared in my hands. I threw them at Voldemort as if I knew what I was doing, and became Invisible to sprint nearer to him, transforming into an enormous dragon that blew hot fire right onto him.

Voldemort roared furiously, shooting spells as he dodged me. He was panting, his red eyes flickered with what appeared to be fear.

Tears were rolling down my face again. I hated Voldemort, I hated him, I wanted him to suffer the way he'd made my parents suffer, the way he'd made Cedric suffer, the way he'd made so many hundreds of people suffer before.

I felt energized like never before. I transformed into forms I had never dreamed of becoming— my arms became sticks of pure flame and I punched him, grazing his face with fire as hot as lava. Then my entire body became a storm, which burst ice and snow all over the Death Eaters and began knocking them down.

Then the snow disappeared, and I held my hands out. Fireballs appeared in them, and I found myself controlling their progress as they sailed through the air, knocking down more Death Eaters.

"YOU DO NOT STAND A CHANCE, FOOLISH GIRL!" Voldemort roared as he deflected my fire. "YOU WILL DIE LIKE YOUR FILTHY MUDBLOOD MOTHER AND YOUR FRIEND—"

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, my chest tightening. The wind was howling all around me, and I was in some sort of protective bubble that Voldemort's spells kept ricocheting off of.

The Death Eaters were all afraid, and were staring into the sky as the fire I'd summoned swirled around like a tornado. Some began to run further away.

"YOU ARE NOTHING!" Voldemort roared. "YOU AND YOUR BROTHER WILL BE CRUSHED! YOU CANNOT STOP ME FROM DESTROYING YOU! HARRY POTTER WILL BE KILLED!"

"No he WON'T!" I bellowed.

Something strange happened. For a moment there was silence, and I felt my heart rate slow down.

The next it felt like every hair on my body stood up. A wave of energy burst out from me in a ring.

Light and sound waves were shooting out from every pore in my skin, traveling at lightning speed all around me in a hundred foot radius. The Death Eaters all yelled and dropped to the floor. Voldemort gave a cry of rage, blinded by what I was doing.

I wasn't sure what was happening. As far as I knew I hadn't meant to cause so much energy to explode out of me.

Then the feeling died down, and all that was left was glittering smoke, and the sounds of muffled yells and coughing.

"My Lord!" One of the Death Eaters wailed. "Macnair— he's... he's—"

Realizing what I'd done, I summoned Cedric and the Triwizard Cup straight into my hands. Voldemort screamed in pure fury as the portkey spun into action.

I let out a loud sob as I landed with a mighty crash, my face resting on Cedric's chest, my skin burning, my ears ringing.

It was only when I screamed loudly, and caressed Cedric's face, that the audience realize something was wrong.


	46. Chapter 46

"Are you ever going to eat?" Aunt Petunia asked snappishly as she noticed I still had not touched my bowl of soup.

"I'm not hungry right now," I mumbled, looking down at my shaky hands.

Harry winced, looking at Aunt Petunia, and coming to sit beside me, taking the spoon in his hand.

"You have to have a little bit," he said. "Come on, Beth..."

"I want to go for a walk," I said bluntly.

Aunt Petunia simply scowled and waved her hand in the air. What did she care?

After Cedric's body and I had returned to the Quidditch pitch, it hadn't taken long for everyone to figure out that something had gone horribly wrong.

Dumbledore had to yank me off of Cedric because I would not stop crying and holding onto him. The Ministry officials had to contain the audience as they tried to run down to see what happened. The only two that had made it past the security measures successfully had been Professor Moody and Amos Diggory.

Professor Moody had led me away, and I hadn't realized something was wrong until I noticed how excited he was after I told him what had happened in the graveyard. In the moment he was distracted from me, I'd read his mind and discovered who he really was. He had nearly killed me when I tried to leave, but I screamed loud enough to draw attention, and not long afterward Professors Snape and McGonagall And Dumbledore had joined us, and we'd discovered the truth behind Barty Crouch Junior.

Unfortunately, his testimony of his service amounted to nothing because the idiotic Ministry officials let the dementors administer the Kiss before they got a sound confession. All that they could rely on was my testimony, and that turned out to be problematic.

You see, Fudge didn't seem very convinced that I was telling the truth. He insisted it wasn't possible that Voldemort was back, and refused to reveal it to the public.

Then things had taken a horrible turn. Dumbledore and Snape had deduced that what had happened with the burst of energy had been similar to what happened when Hagrid took Harry and I to Privet Drive after our parents were killed. My emotions had taken over and caused a burst of power that was so strong, it had killed Macnair.

Fudge was not that concerned that it was Macnair who had died— he was most concerned that I had killed him.

McGonagall and even Mr and Mrs Weasley argued that it was impossible for me to control that and I had not killed him with malicious intent— I had merely been defending myself against Voldemort and been so incredibly emotional my power burst out.

But Fudge would hear nothing of it. He'd argued that I was dangerous, and needed to be contained. Mr and Mrs Weasley both argued with Dumbledore that it was a stupid idea to lock me up in St Mungos, so the only reason I'm not in a cell there right now is because they vouched for me. Now the Ministry thinks I'm insane and doesn't trust me. Great.

Cedric's death had hit me hard. The first two days after, I didn't speak to anyone. But before Cedric's parents left on the third day, I found my voice again.

"Mr and Mrs Diggory!" I croaked, running up behind them.

They turned, bewildered. Then Mrs Diggory's face had scrunched up and she bit her lip, running to me and catching me, sobbing as soon as she wrapped her arms around me.

"I'm so sorry," I said, my voice cracking. "I'm so so sorry...."

"This isn't your fault," Mr Diggory said, looking down as his lip began to tremble.

I pulled away from Mrs Diggory and pulled out a bag containing the thousand Galleons I'd been awarded the day before. "Please take these... they belonged to Cedric..."

"I couldn't," Mrs Diggory said, shaking her head vigorously. "He would have wanted you to have them... find a good use for them..."

Then she shivered, and placed her hands on my shoulders, smiling as tears rolled down her face.

"He loved you, you know," she said. "You were the greatest friend he ever had. He had other regular friends, of course... but none like you. He told me the day Amos and I arrived for the final task that you'd been a big help and that he couldn't have made it to where he did without you. He said that none of his friends had ever cared as much about him as you did. He said you saw him as more than just Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff student. You saw him as Cedric Diggory, a boy who had more to him than just his looks and brains. He told Amos and I that you understood him better than anyone, and that he hoped that you would be friends until he... until he died..." she paused for a minute, wiping her eyes. "I'm glad that... that he died without pain, and that he was with someone who made him happy. Happier than anyone ever had before" her lips trembled, and he pulled me in for a hug again. "Thank you," she sobbed. "Thank you for being so good to him, even though you had so many struggles of your own."

I pulled away and rubbed her shoulder. "Your son," I said, breathing heavily, "was also one of my greatest friends. He was there for me when no one else was, and he stood by me even when I was emotional and... and annoying. I loved him. And I know i-in Heaven my mum and dad are going to take good care of him."

Mr Diggory covered his face, leaning on his wife's shoulders. Then he put his arms around both of us, all of us crying and missing one of the greatest human beings to ever walk the planet.

It was difficult. Difficult to cope with the fact that he was gone. I felt empty seeing his seat vacant in class on the last day of term. I felt like my soul had been clawed out when I went to his funeral. I forced myself not to cry and I looked at his body and gave a speech about how wonderful he'd been.

If you're wondering about George... well...

Cedric's death had hit him hardest of all, which surprised me. George held me as I cried and even shed several tears himself. He told me he regretted being so rude to Cedric and that he hoped he'd been a good enough friend the months they had spoken civilly to each other. He told me it wasn't my fault Cedric was dead... but I still felt like it was.

I dunno how I have survived up to now, honestly. It's late July and I feel empty inside. I don't eat as much anymore. I don't feel happy. For some strange reason Harry and I haven't even received letters from the Weasleys nor Hermione, which doesn't make me feel better at all.

"Beth."

I looked up at Harry as we walked down Magnolia Road. He offered me a small smile and I smiled back.

"How are you feeling today?" He asked quietly.

"Not much better than I did yesterday," I said, playing with the zipper of my sweater. "I need to see George."

Harry winced. "Something important must have happened if he and Ron haven't owled us."

"I know," I said, looking up at the darkening sky. "But I need to see him."

Harry bit his lip. "You love him... don't you?"

I laughed lightly, closing my eyes and looking down. "I do. Cedric used to say it was unbelievable, that I already knew in my heart I loved George. But I do."

My lip trembled at the mention of Cedric's name.

"Cedric was supposed to be at my wedding, in the future," I whispered. "And Fleur's wedding— she wanted all of us there."

"Cedric will be at your wedding," Harry said, rubbing my back. "There's going to be a place for him. Just because you can't see him won't mean he isn't there."

I looked at Harry and smiled a bit more.

"Do you think you're going to marry George?" Harry asked.

I looked at him and smirked. "I-I think so," I said. "I dunno for certain but... I think so. When this is all over."

Harry looked at me seriously. "And you two haven't—?"

"Of course not," I said. "I-I'm not ready for that. And I don't think he is either."

Harry looked significantly happier. "Just asking. Look— there's Dudley."

I turned lazily and saw Dudley and his gang of annoying ugly boys were by a cluster of trees at the corner of Magnolia Road and Magnolia Crescent.

"...squealed like a pig, didn't he?" The one named Malcolm said, guffawing.

"Nice right hook, Big D," said Piers, a rat faced boy who had thought I was attractive when I came to live with the Dursleys.

"Same time tomorrow?" Dudley asked.

"Round at my place, my parents are out," the one named Gordon confirmed.

"See you then," Dudley said, nodding.

"Bye Dud!" Malcolm called.

"See ya, Big D!" The others called.

Harry pulled us into the shadows as the boys all began to depart. Once their voices had all faded and Dudley had begun to walk closer to us, Harry grinned maniacally and stepped out into the light.

I suppose he thought this might be funny and make me laugh again. It was sweet of him, but I didn't really fancy seeing my brother and my cousin insult each other like they always did when we were away from Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. It was childish— but I guess they both have a lot of bottled up insults from growing up together and never truly being able to snarl the things that popped into their heads.

"How long have you been 'Big D' then?" Harry asked.

"Shut it," Dudley grunted.

"Cool name," Harry said, trotting alongside Dudley, "but you'll always be Ickle Diddykins to me."

My brother was such a savage when we wanted to be.

"I said, SHUT IT!" Dudley said, balling up his fists.

"Don't the boys know that's what your mum calls you?" Harry asked sweetly.

"Shut your face," Dudley snarled.

"You don't tell HER to shut her face," Harry observed. "What about 'popkin' and 'Dinky Diddydums,' can Beth and I use them then?"

Dudley looked at me as though he expected me to add on. When I said nothing he merely looked away, clearly restraining himself from breaking Harry in half.

"So who've you been beating up tonight?" Harry asked very seriously. "Another ten year old? I know you did Mark Evans two nights ago—"

"He was asking for it," Dudley snapped.

"What?" I asked, bewildered.

"He cheeked me," Dudley said.

"He's ELEVEN," I sighed in disapproval. "You're fifteen."

"So what?" Dudley hissed. "Cheek is cheek."

"Oh," I said, now finding the fun it in like Harry. "Did he day you look like a pig that's been taught to walk on its hind legs? Cause that's not cheek, it's the truth..."

Harry smirked happily, looking expectantly at Dudley for his reaction.

"Now you start on me too," Dudley growled.

"I'm bored," I sighed.

"Think you both are so high and mighty carrying those things around, don't you?" Dudley asked.

"What things?" Harry asked innocently.

"Those— those things you're hiding," Dudley said in a low voice.

Harry grinned like it was Christmas.

"Not as stupid as you look, are you, Dud?" He asked. "But I s'pose if you were, you wouldn't be able to walk and talk at the same time..."

"Giving him a little too much credit, aren't you, Harry?" I asked, feeling myself laugh for the first time in at least a month. "He wouldn't even be able to walk."

Harry chuckled and pulled out his wand.

"You're not allowed," Dudley said immediately, casting it a side glance. "I know you're not— you'd get expelled from that freak school you go to."

"How d'you know they haven't changed the rules, Big D?" Harry asked.

"They haven't," Dudley said, although it didn't seem like he believed himself.

"Fifteen is the minimum age you need to be to use a wand outside of school," I lied smoothly. "Harry's just about to turn fifteen... a few days make no difference."

"You haven't got the guts to take me on without that thing— neither of you," Dudley hissed.

"It'd be a waste of my time," I sighed.

"And don't you need JUST four mates behind you before you can beat up a ten year old?" Harry asked smartly. "You know that boxing title you keep banging on about? How old was your opponent? Seven? Eight?"

"He was sixteen, for your information," Dudley said coldly. "And he was out cold for twenty minutes after I'd finished with him and he was twice as heavy as the two of you put together. You just wait til I tell Dad you had that thing out—"

"Running to Daddy now, are you?" Harry asked. "Is his ickle boxing champion frightened of nasty Harry's wand? Will he be more frightened when nasty Beth takes hers out too?"

Dudley looked at me and scoffed, seeing my wand still in my pocket.

"She's not that brave at night, is she?" He hissed.

"This is night, Diddykins," Harry said. "That's what we call it when it goes dark like this."

"I mean when she's in bed," Dudley said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not brave in bed?" I inquired. "What, am I supposed to be frightened of the pillows or something?"

Harry let out a small laugh before Dudley spoke again.

"I heard you last night," Dudley said. "Talking in your sleep. Moaning."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused. But when Harry looked down I realized Dudley wasn't making anything up.

"Don't kill Cedric!" Dudley said in a high pitched, whimpering voice. "Don't kill Cedric! Who's Cedric— your boyfriend?"

I struggled to form words. "No— he wasn't— he— oh my God—"

Trembling, my hand instinctively flew to my wand and drew it out.

"Dad! Help me Dad! She's going to kill me Dad!"

"Shut up!" Harry said in a furious whisper. "Shut up, Dudley, I'm warning you!"

My mouth had gone dry.

"She's going to kill me like she killed Cedric!" Dudley said. "Dad—"

"Dudley cut it out!" Harry snapped.

I took a step back, and Dudley and Harry both turned to look at me. My hands began to shake furiously, and my lip trembled.

"Beth—" Harry said, taking a step forward.

"He's right," I gasped, holding my hands out in front of me. "He-He's right—"

"No he's not!" Harry said. "It's not your fault Cedric died—"

"Wait a minute," Dudley said. "What— did she actually kill a bloke?"

"She killed someone but not Cedric!" Harry hissed.

I looked up at him, my eyes wide.

Then I felt my chest tighten. Another small burst of energy emitted from me, skidding through the air and hitting both Dudley and Harry. Harry hissed as it left a red mark against his bare arm, and Dudley let out a low howl as it burned the palm of his hand.

"I'm telling Dad!" He snarled nastily.

"I-I didn't mean to!" I cried, making another ring burst out. Harry leapt back and held his arm, looking at me like he was afraid.

Then suddenly the sky turned black. Thinking I'd caused it, I staggered backward and held my hands up, urging Harry and Dudley to stay away from me.

But then it got cold, unbelievably cold. An icy sheet seemed to fall over the alley we were now in, and the bricks along the walls began to sprout icicles.

"W-What are you d-doing?" Dudley cried. "St-stop it!"

"That's not me!" I cried, feeling my eyes begin to water. "I dunno what—"

"I c-can't see!" Dudley yelled. "I've g-gone blind! I—"

"Shut up, Dudley!" Harry said, looking all around.

I whipped around as I heard the wind howl. I gaped and raised my wand, my hand still shaking furiously, as I saw two dementors in the air, coming at us at full speed from a distance.

"How are they here?" Harry asked frantically.

"W-Where are you?" Dudley whimpered. "What did you d-do—?"

The dementors had disappeared in the clouds, and I looked up at the sky wildly, trying to figure out where they went.

"Did you catch them, Harry?" I asked, craning my neck and gripping my wand tightly.

"I didn't see where they disappeared to—"

"C-Cut it out!" Dudley cried. "Stop doing it! I'll h-hit you, I swear I will!"

"Dudley shut—"

I heard the sound of a punch being thrown and saw Harry collapse on the floor, dazed, having just been punched by Dudley.

Dudley on the other hand, ran right past me down the alleyway.

That's when the dementors made their appearance.

"DUDLEY COME BACK!" I screamed. "YOU'RE RUNNING RIGHT AT THEM!"

But Dudley didn't listen. Cursing, I sprinted forward just as Harry began to get up, and without thinking I cast the spell.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A silvery whisp burst out, but it clearly wasn't enough to combat the dementors.

I began to feel sad— sadder than I already did. My hands shook and my wand cluttered out of my hand. I started to think of Cedric, and how he'd looked when he died—

"BETH!" Harry cried.

I collapsed onto my knees, feeling tears streaming down my face. I could see Cedric staring at me, his gray eyes piercing mine...

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Harry's silver stag burst out and charged the dementors. Then he grabbed me, yanking me up, reaching his other hand to take Dudley too.

"COME ON BETH!" He bellowed. "RUN!"

I hadn't forgotten how to run, but it felt like I had. As Harry dragged Dudley and I forward it was almost like my legs had no idea how to move.

"THIS WAY!" Harry said, pulling us out of the alleyway.

Then Dudley stumbled, and Harry and I fell with him. I felt unbelievably cold and I didn't have the strength to move.

The dementors had caught up. One of them launched itself at Dudley, and the other at me.

I felt a horrible pain in my chest as the dementor began to absorb by soul out of my open mouth, my face plastered with dry tears. I could see a silver light headed my way....

Then it ended, and I gasped and sat up. Harry was kneeling down in front of me, tapping my face.

"I-I'm useless!" I croaked. "Dementors— oh Harry you used a spell—"

"I don't give a damn," he said, pressing his hand on my forehead. "Are you okay?"

"I-It happened again!" I shrieked. "I lost control and the e-energy b-burst out again!"

"It's not your fault," Harry said, although he subconsciously rubbed his arm where the light and sound waves I'd formed had burned him.

"Dudley," I gasped, turning to see my cousin was shaking, but nonetheless alive.

Then behind Dudley an old woman came out. I knew her to be Mrs Figg— a lady Harry said had babysat him whenever the Dursleys went out.

Harry immediately thrust his wand into his pocket, but she shook a bony finger at him.

"Don't put it away, idiot boy!" She shrieked. "What if there are more of them around? Oh I'm going to kill Mundungus Fletcher!"

"Wait what?" I said, wiping my cheeks. "M-Mundungus who?"

"Mundungus Fletcher!" She hissed, wringing her hands together. "He left to see someone about a batch of cauldrons that fell off the back of a broom! I told him I'd flat him alive if he went and now look! Dementors! It's just lucky I put Mr Tibbies on the case! But we haven't got time to stand around! Hurry now, we've got to get you back! Oh the trouble this is going to cause! I will kill him!"

"You're— you're a witch?" Harry spluttered.

"I'm a Squib, as Mundungus knows fully well!" Mrs Figg said. "How on earth was I supposed to help you fight off dementors? He left you completely without cover when I warned him—"

"Was this Mundungus bloke following us?" I asked. "Hang on— it was HIM I saw Disapparate that day I took out the cans..."

"Yes yes but luckily I'd stationed Mr Tibbies under a car just in case, and he came and warned me, but by the time I got to your house you'd both gone— and now— oh what's Dumbledore going to say? You! Get your fat bottom off the ground quick!"

Dudley didn't move, so Harry forced him to his feet.

"Keep your wands out!" Mrs Figg said as I summoned mine into my hand. "Never mind the Statue of Secrecy now, there's going to be hell to pay anyway, we might as well be hanged from a dragon as an egg. Talk about the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery— this was exactly what Dumbledore was afraid of!"

"Why didn't you tell me you're a Squib?" Harry asked indignantly. "All those times I came round your house as a kid— why didn't you say anything?"

"Dumbledore's orders," Mrs Figg said simply. "I was to keep an eye on you but not say anything, you were too young. I'm sorry I gave you such a miserable time, but the Dursleys would never have let you come if they thought you enjoyed it. It wasn't easy, you know... but oh my word when Dumbledore hears about this— how could Mundungus have left, he was supposed to be on duty until midnight— where us he? How am I going to tell Dumbledore what's happened? I can't Apparate—"

"I've got an owl, you can borrow her," Harry said as I nervously wrung my hands together.

"Harry you don't understand! Dumbledore will need to act as quickly as possible, the Ministry have their own ways of detecting underage magic, they'll know already, you mark my words—"

She looked at me. "Did you cast a spell too?"

"I-I tried," I said. "It didn't really work—"

"And I don't expect it would have even if you thought of the happiest memory ever!" She said. "You poor thing you've been through enough already, watching two people die..."

My chest tightened.

"But we had to use magic!" Harry said. "They're going to be more worried what the dementors were doing floating around Wisteria Walk, surely?"

"I wish it were so but— MUNDUNGUS FLETCHER I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

There was a loud crack and short man who looked like he lived on the streets appeared.

"'S up, Figgy?" He asked. He looked at us all and scratched his head. "What 'appened to stayin' undercover?"

"I'll give you undercover!" Mrs Figg snapped. "Dementors, you useless, skiving sneak thief!"

"Dementors?" Mundungus gasped. "Dementors here?"

"Yes here, you worthless pile of bat droppings, here!" Mrs Figg shrieked. "Dementors attacking them on your watch!"

"Blimey," Mundungus said weakly, looking at me then at Harry. "Blimey, I...."

"And you off buying stolen cauldrons! Didn't I tell you not to go? Didn't I?"

"I—well— I—" Mundungus said, looking thoroughly guilty. "It... it was a very good business opportunity, see..."

Mrs Figg whacked Mundungus across the face with her string bag.

"Ouch— gerroff— gerroff you mad old bat!" He cried. "Someone's goyta tell Dumbledore!"

"Yes— they— have—" Mrs Figg said furiously, hitting him as hard as she could, "and— it— had— better— be— you— and— you— can— tell— him— why— you— weren't— there— to— help!"

"Keep your 'airnet on!" Mundungus hissed, covering his head. "I'm going, I'm going!"

There was another crack and he vanished.

"I hope Dumbledore murders him!" Mrs Figg said furiously. "Now come on you two, what are you waiting for? I'll take you to the door, just in case there are more of them around... oh my word what a catastrophe! And you had to fight them off yourself... and Dumbledore said we were to keep you from doing magic at all costs! Well, it's no good crying over spilled potion, I suppose. But the cat's among the pixies now..."

"Dumbledore's been having us followed, then?" I mumbled.

"Of course he has!" Mrs Figg said. "Did you expect him to let you wander around on your own after what happened in June? Good Lord, girl, they told me you were intelligent—"

"I just have the sense to not exactly TRUST anyone right now," I hissed. "If Dumbledore cared so much why the bloody hell didn't he make sure that Tournament wasn't sabotaged? One of my best friends died because of his lack of attention and NOW he cares?"

"I don't pretend to know what happened with all that," Mrs Figg said tartly. "Now get inside— all of you— I'm going straight home to wait for more instructions. Just stay in the house."

Then she left, leaving me to knock the door while Harry strained to hold Dudley up.

"Diddy!" Aunt Petunia cried, coming toward us from inside. "About time too, I was getting quite— quite— DUDLEY WHAT'S THE MATTER?"

Aunt Petunia began screaming her head off the instant she opened the door and I pushed Harry and Dudley inside.

"Shut up!" I snapped as Uncle Vernon joined her.

"Don't you tell me—"

"SHUT UP!"

They both stared at me fearfully, another ring of energy leaving my body. Aunt Petunia shrieked as it collided with the wall and made a dent accompanied with a defeaning crack.

"There are things called dementors," I snapped, my hands trembling as I shoved them in my pockets and Harry brushed past me carrying Dudley. "They were here— they attacked us—"

"WHAT DID THEY DO TO DUDLEY?" Uncle Vernon roared.

"I'm getting there—"

There was a screech, and an owl flew through the open door, swooping over me and plopping a letter onto my head. Scowling as it flew away I snatched the letter off my head and tore it open, going to join the Dursleys and Harry in the sitting room, where Dudley lay half unconscious.

Then my mouth dropped open, and I leaned on the doorway for support.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked fearfully.

I looked up at him, my eyes wide.

"We've been expelled."


	47. Chapter 47

After four bloody letters, me screaming my head off about dementors, and Harry bellowing that Voldemort was back, it seemed our point sort of got through.

"Back?" Aunt Petunia whispered.

It seemed she had never looked at Harry that way, from the look on his face when she turned to stare at him. But when she turned to me the look was familiar, she'd looked at me like that the day I met Harry and my godfather and I had dropped him off at this place.

"Yes," Harry said, looking straight at Aunt Petunia. "He came back ago. Elizabeth saw him."

Aunt Petunia turned to me, and her eyebrows furrowed. For a moment I swear her lips moved and formed the word 'Lily,' although no sound came out. She looked like she was about to cry.

Personally, I didn't feel like explaining it to them, but when Harry pursed his lips and nodded to me I felt like I had no choice.

"I'm only going to say this once," I said, my voice shaking. "I was thrown into a dangerous Tournament. One of my best friends Cedric was in it with me— but he actually entered, I didn't. We went through it together. But in the last task one of the Death Eaters— those blokes who do Voldemort's dirty work— bewitched the Triwizard Cup— the trophy we were supposed to get— and it transported Cedric and I to a graveyard."

I turned and looked a fearful Dudley in the eyes. "Wormtail, a man who had once been our parents' best friend, killed Cedric. Then Voldemort was rebirthed into a new body, I saw it all with my own eyes. He tried to kill me, but I g-got away."

Dudley's lip was trembling. "B-But h-he s-said—" he pointed at Harry "y-you k-killed a m-man."

"I lost control of my powers," I mumbled, looking at my hands. Instinctively I balled my fists up and shoved them in my pockets. I looked back up at Aunt Petunia, who was covering her mouth. "He's back."

"Well that settles it," Uncle Vernon said after a brief moment of silence. "If this Lord Voldything's back and sending dismembers—"

"—dementors—"

"—whatever— after you, then you can both get out of this house!" He finished furiously.

"What?" Harry spluttered, looking at me.

"You heard me— OUT!" Uncle Vernon bellowed, making Dudley and Aunt Petunia jump. "OUT! OUT! I should've done it years ago! Owls treating the place like a rest home, puddings exploding, half the lounge destroyed, Dudley's tail, Marge bobbing around in the ceiling, and that flying Ford Anglia— OUT! OUT! You've had it! You're history! You're not staying here if some loony's after you, you're not endangering my wife and son, you're not bringing trouble down on us, if you're going the same way as your useless parents, I've had it! OUT!"

I looked at Harry, who blinked three times fast.

" _The letters said not to leave the house_!" Harry protested.

" _We're not going anywhere_ ," I thought back furiously.

Uncle Vernon leapt forward, making me snap out of Harry's mind.

"You heard me!" He snarled, his massive purple face coming closer to mine. "Get going! Your brother was so keen to have you both leave half an hour ago! I'm right behind you! Get out and never darken our doorstep again!"

He turned angrily to Harry. "Why we ever kept you in the first place I don't know."

Then he turned back to me, still spitting in fury. "Why we accepted YOU when they dropped you at that train station eleven years later beats me as well! Marge was right, it should have been the orphanage, we were too damn soft for our own good, thought we could squash it out of you, thought we could turn you normal, but you've been rotten from the beginning and I've had enough—"

"NO!" I screamed, sending another burst of energy from me that made Aunt Petunia scream and shield Dudley when Uncle Vernon howled, holding his arm, looking at me venomously.

I took a step back, my lip trembling wildly. "No!" I shrieked. "No— don't think Harry didn't tell me how AWFUL you were from the start! You—you made him sleep in a bloody closet under the stairs! You hardly gave him food! Then when I arrived you STARVED us and put bars on our window— OF COURSE THE STUPID FLYING FORD ANGLIA APPEARED OUTSIDE, THAT WAS CHILD ABUSE! Harry never did ANYTHING to you, he never hurt Dudley in any way, and we never caused you a problem that was too difficult for you to fix! So don't you blame it on us, you're just awful, awful people who should care more about us because YOU'RE UNFORTUNATELY THE LAST FAMILY WE HAVE LEFT!"

Seething with rage I turned to Aunt Petunia.

"We're your sister's children," I said, breathing heavily. "When you first saw me after my godfather and I brought Harry back after getting his school supplies for the very first time you told me I looked exactly like Lily. You should care more about us!"

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were at a lost for words.

Another owl flew through the window, landing on my shoulder as I panted, my throat raw from screaming. It dropped the letter onto my shoulder and flew away. As soon as I read it I thrusted it into Aunt Petunia's hands.

"What the devil—" Uncle Vernon began.

"It's a Howler," I hissed. "Addressed to her. Best open it now before it blows up."

Aunt Petunia's trembling hands took the envelope. She looked up at me as though she was scared what I might do if I didn't listen. She was taking her sweet time opening it though, and before long it burst into flames, falling on the floor.

"REMEMBER MY LAST, PETUNIA," came the a horrible booming voice from the envelope.

Aunt Petunia seemed ready to faint. She looked at Uncle Vernon.

"What is it?" He asked hoarsely. "What— I don't— Petunia?"

She said nothing. Dudley was staring stupidly at her, not comprehending what was happening.

"Petunia dear?" Uncle Vernon asked softly. "P-Petunia?"

Aunt Petunia swallowed hard. "The ch-children will have to stay, Vernon."

"W-What?" Uncle Vernon stammered.

"They stay," Aunt Petunia said.

"They... but Petunia..."

"If we throw them out, the neighbors will talk," she said briskly. "They'll ask awkward questions, they'll want to know where they've gone. We'll have to keep them."

"But Petunia dear—" Uncle Vernon insisted.

Aunt Petunia ignored him, turning to us.

"You're to stay in your room," she said coldly. "You're not to leave the house. Now get to bed."

________

"We're going out," Uncle Vernon said.

"Sorry?" Harry asked, looking up.

"We— that is to say, your aunt, Dudley, and I— are going out," Uncle Vernon said, pursing his lips.

"Fine," Harry said.

"Neither of you are to leave your bedroom while we're away."

"Okay."

"Neither of you are to touch the television, the stereo, or any of our possessions."

"Right."

"Neither of you are to steal food from the fridge."

"Okay."

"I'm going to lock your door."

"You do that."

Uncle Vernon looked at Harry suspiciously, then stared at me, who simply shrugged back at him.

He then left and locked the door behind him.

For the past week, Harry and I had been confined to our room. We had minimal meals again, and of course Harry ate most of it— I couldn't even make myself eat anyway.

We hadn't gotten letters from anyone of our friends. I assumed this meant they knew what was happening and probably weren't allowed to send letters, but Harry sort of lost his head over it and was convinced they didn't care about us. He was very cross about it, and I wasn't sure how much longer he could take it.

I hadn't lost my powers this time around despite the starvation— in case you were wondering. I'm just afraid to use them. I'm afraid I'm going to lose control of them and I'll hurt Harry again, which is the last thing I want to do.

"So," Harry said once we heard Uncle Vernon and the rest of the Dursleys leave. "What will we do after the trial?"

"What do you mean?" I inquired.

"What will we do if they don't let us come back to Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"Well," I said, rubbing my temples, "we'll live with Sirius and my godfather. No big deal. We can educate ourselves. It's not as hard as you think."

Harry frowned. "Do you think they'll let us off?"

"They have to," I mumbled. "It was self defense. We can argue that they should have monitored the dementors better."

"I'm sure Voldemort sent them," Harry said.

"But he'd have to bypass the Ministry," I said, burying my face in my pillow. "So either someone inside the Ministry sent them, or Voldemort has already infiltrated them."

"He has Death Eaters in there," Harry said. "You mentioned several of them there at that... graveyard."

I winced, remembering the scene. It was a painful memory.

"Beth," Harry said, coming over and rubbing my back. "They're going to let us off. Both of us."

"I'm not sure anymore," I said, my eyes swimming with angry tears. "I killed a man, Harry, and the Ministry has yet to punish me for that—"

"You didn't mean to!" Harry said. "You'd just watched one of your best friends die and you were attacked by Voldemort—"

"—they don't believe that though!" I cried. "They refuse to believe he's back! I can't use that as an argument!"

I sat up abruptly, my hands shaking. "And I haven't just killed Macnair— I burned you and Dudley and Uncle Vernon.... this is getting out of control."

"Calm down," Harry said, touching my hand softly. I yanked it away, quickly shoving it in my pocket.

"Beth," Harry said, sounding annoyed, "look, you're not going to hurt me, and I don't care if you do anyway—"

"I KILLED someone, Harry," I said, scooting away from him. "I'm not going to let myself get emotional and hurt you—"

"There's your solution!" Harry said. "Don't be an emotional prat!"

I opened my mouth to argue but no sound came out.

"I'm sorry, that was rude," Harry said suddenly, looking down.

"No," I said, shaking my head, "no, I think I needed to hear that."

I looked at Harry and smiled slightly.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I think us not being raised together means you can be more honest with me," I said. "Look at Ginny and Ron and at Bixby and Batavia. There's a lot they don't tell each other about their behavior and what they do. But you and I have no problem being honest with each other. We're more like friends than siblings, sometimes."

Harry shrugged. "I guess so. To be honest with you— it was hard to adjust to the fact I had a sister at first. I didn't really want to connect with you that much because I felt you'd had it so much better than me."

I laughed, for the first time in awhile. "That makes sense. See, I don't think that would have happened if the Dursleys actually gave you all the letters and presents I sent throughout the years. I suppose we should be glad it happened like that, otherwise I doubt you'd have been able to straight up snap at me and make me realize I just needed to stop being so—"

There was a crash downstairs, and I leapt out of bed, summoning my wand straight into my hand.

Harry slowly stood up, and we both remained still for a moment, listening.

There was silence downstairs for a few seconds, then voices.

"Burglars," Harry whispered.

"No," I said, slowly creeping to the door. "Burglars wouldn't be so clumsy— they're talking rather loud and I hear them moving around the kitchen a tad too noisily."

"Then who could it be?" Harry asked quietly.

"We should go—"

But Harry stopped me as soon as I reached for the door.

"What—?"

"Listen!" He said.

The voices were getting louder. Once I paid more attention I realized that the burglars or whoever they were, were coming upstairs.

I pushed Harry behind me and raised my wand, my hand miraculously not shaking.

When the lock clicked and the door swung open, I leapt forward, my wand raised high in the air.

"Woah— Beth!" My godfather cried, jumping back.

"Uncle Remus?" Harry spluttered.

"Lower your wand, girl, before you take someone's eye out!" A voice growled from behind my godfather.

I lowered my wand and stared, dumbfounded, as Mad Eye Moody stepped out to stand next to my godfather.

"Professor Moody?" I asked.

"I don't know so much about 'Professor,'" Moody said. "Never got round to much teaching, did I?"

Harry came to stand beside me, and I gaped at my godfather.

"It's all right, Elizabeth," he said gently. "We've come to take you away."

He smiled and came forward, pulling me into a hug. I breathed a sigh of relief, happy I was finally seeing a familiar face.

"Why haven't you answered her letters?" Harry asked indignantly as I pulled away.

"It was much too risky to explain via owl," my godfather said. "Come downstairs— the others want to see you."

I shrugged to Harry and began heading out behind Moody.

At the bottom of the stairs stood a woman with a pale face and short spiky, violet colored hair.

"Oooh they look just like I thought they would!" She said excitedly, looking at Harry and I in awe. "Wotcher, Elizabeth! Wotcher, Harry!"

"Hi," I said, looking back at Harry, who had his eyebrow raised. "Who—?"

"I see what you mean, Remus," came a voice. A tall, dark man stepped out from behind the violet haired woman and grinned to Harry and I. "She looks exactly like Lily... and he looks exactly like James... but with Lily's eyes."

"Who are you people?" I asked, tucking my wand in the back pocket of my jeans.

Before anyone could answer, Moody let out a rough cry.

"What?" I shrieked, whipping my wand out again.

"Don't put your wand there, girl!" He roared. "What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!"

"Beth doesn't have buttocks to lose," Harry said with a smirk.

"Oh shut your face," I hissed, although I cracked a smile.

The violet haired witch laughed. "Who d'you even know who's lost a buttock, Mad Eye?"

"Never you mind, just everyone— keep your wands out of your back pockets!" Mad Eye growled. "Elementary wand safety, nobody bothers about it anymore..."

"I'm sorry, jeez," I said. "Bloody hell— you're lucky the Dursleys are out—"

"Lucky, ha!" The violet haired witch said. "It was me that lured them out of the way. Sent a letter by Muggle post telling them they'd been short listed for the All England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They're heading off to the prize giving right now... or they think they are."

I grinned. "We're leaving here then, right?"

"Soon," my godfather said. "We're just waiting for the all clear."

"Where are we going?" Harry asked. "The Burrow?"

"Not the Burrow, no," my godfather said, making Harry frown. "Too risky. We've set up headquarters somewhere undetectable. It's taken a while..."

I looked around at everyone and nodded. "Alright. Well while we wait for that... all clear... do you mind introducing everyone?"

"Sure," my godfather said, smiling. "That's Alastor Moody."

"We know," Harry said.

"Not really," I said, contemplating the real Mad Eye Moody.

"Well I suppose not," Harry said, shrugging.

"And this is Nymphadora—"

"Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus," the violet haired witch said. "It's Tonks."

"—Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only," my godfather finished.

"So would you if your fool of a mother had called you 'Nymphadora,'" Tonks muttered indignantly.

I liked her already. She grinned to me and I shook her hand, then she turned to Harry. I looked at my godfather, who I noticed was staring fixedly at Tonks. Interesting.

"This is Kingsley Shacklebolt," my godfather said, indicating the tall dark wizard, who bowed to us. "Elphias Doge—" the short man waved to us from behind Kingsley "Dedalus Diggle—"

"We've met before!" Diggle said, shaking Harry's hand. Then he turned to me and with a grin, excitedly shook my hand as well.

"—Emmeline Vance" a witch in an emerald shawl waved "Sturgis Podmore" a square jawed wizard with straw colored hair winked to Harry and tipped his hat to me "and Hestia Jones" a black haired witch waved from beside Emmeline.

"Pleasure to meet you," I said, smiling. "I'm... Elizabeth Potter."

"Harry," my brother said, smiling too.

"A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you," my godfather said.

"Yeah, well, the more the better," Moody said.

"The better for what?" I inquired. "Who are you all, exactly?"

Moody chuckled, then became serious again. "We're your guard, Potters."

________

When we arrived to the Order of the Phoenix (cool name, huh) headquarters (Number 12 Grimmauld Place) we were shown to a bedroom where we found Hermione, Ginny, and Ron waiting for us.

Harry was cross at first since they hadn't replied to our letters, but once we calmed him down they explained a bit about what the Order of the Phoenix did. Then they told us a bit of interesting information— Fleur Delacour had taken up a job in Gringotts and was working closely with Bill (that sly girl knew she wanted HIM when I first mentioned him) and that Percy was being the world's greatest prat.

"He went completely berserk," Ron said. "He said— well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's been having to struggle against Dad's lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that Dad's got to ambition and that's why we've always been— you know— not a lot of money, I mean—"

"What?" I cried in disbelief, which led to Ginny making a noise like an angry cat. "But why— oh he's an idiot!"

"I know," Ron mumbled. "And it got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down with him, and that he— Percy— knew where his loyalty lat and it was with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry, he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn't belong to our family anymore. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now."

"That jerk!" I snapped. Then Harry and I both let out a string of curse words. "How could he say something like that to your dad? Oh my god— how did Mum take it?"

"She's been in a right state," Ginny sighed, wincing. "You know— crying and stuff. She came up to London to try and talk to Percy but he slammed the door in her face. I dunno what he does if he meets Dad at work— ignores him, I s'pose."

"B-But Percy MUST know Voldemort's back," Harry said. "He's not stupid— he and Beth were always close from what you said and he MUST know your mum and dad wouldn't risk everything without proof—"

"Yeah well Beth's name got dragged into the row," Ron said, frowning. "Percy said the only evidence was her word and.... I dunno... he didn't think it was good enough."

"So he sided with Fudge!" I growled. "After all the support I gave him when even his own siblings were making fun of him— I can't believe it!"

Harry looked up. "Wait a minute— has the Daily Prophet mentioned Beth at all?"

"They have," Hermione sighed. "Every now and then they throw some articles in, nothing front page worthy, so if all you do is read the front cover then no wonder you don't know... they're just building off of Rita's stuff."

"But she's not writing for them anymore, is she?" Harry asked, looking at me. "You busted her when you found out she was an animagus—"

"Oh no she isn't writing at all, no," Hermione said. "She kept her promise. But she laid the foundation for what they're trying to do now."

I growled, and the door burst open.

"Hey Beth," Fred said, coming in alone.

"Where's your other half?" I inquired.

"Waiting for you upstairs," Fred said. "I'll Apparate you."

"Oh no, I don't want you rubbing in the fact that YOU can Apparate," I said, smiling as I got up. I hugged Fred and waved to the others before heading upstairs.

I assumed the open door was where the twins were staying. I stepped forward cautiously and poked my head in.

I was ambushed immediately by George, who wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me up so our lips connected.

"Hey!" I said as I pulled away, grinning as I caressed his face.

"I'm so so sorry I didn't owl!" He said, spinning my around. "They forbade me— and Mum said I wasn't allowed to challenge Dumbledore to a duel over it—"

I laughed and pulled him in for another kiss. He set me down on his bed and snaked his hands up to my shoulders, holding me firmly as he continued to kiss me hungrily.

"I did read what you sent though," he said, breathing heavily, his hand stroking my hair. "Are you okay?"

"Not at all," I sighed, looking away. "I'm considerably better here, now, but... this summer's been awful."

"You're safe here," George said, kissing my forehead. "You're fine. Tonight, you can ask the Order what they think is going on with those bursts of power and we'll see what to do from there, alright?"

I smiled, and leaned into his chest.

"Want to see me do magic?" He asked.

"Argh— that'll just remind me I'm not of age yet," I said, laughing slightly.

"That reminds me," George said with a devilish grin. "Our relationship is illegal now."

"It's been illegal since April," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't you love breaking the law?" He asked.

"Not when it gets me expelled," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"You've been suspended, it's different," George said. "Trust me— if Fred and I haven't gotten expelled the million times we made the Slytherins cross dress or made their hair turn different colors— then you'll be fine, and September first you'll be sitting beside me as you go into your sixth year and I go into my seventh."

My jaw went slack in realization. "George, you're graduating this year."

"Oh I don't know about graduating," he said, smirking. "I reckon I'd like to set a record for failing the most classes in order to stay an extra year and be with you."

"I don't think your mum will be too happy hearing that," I said.

"She hasn't been too happy hearing anything lately," George sighed. "I expect Ron and Ginny told you about what a humongous asshole Percy became?"

"It's disappointing," I said. "Was he not the one that told Harry Dumbledore was a genius when he arrived in first year?"

"He's changed a lot," George said, frowning. "It's sad to see it. I never thought he'd say that you were a liar either."

"Well a lot of people think of me as some sort of liar according to Hermione's useful information regarding articles in the Daily Prophet," I said.

"They're utter bullshit," George insisted. "They're really stupid— trying to make you seem like some sort of murderer."

"I am a murderer," I said bluntly.

"But they're placing you in the same category as You Know Who," George said.

"Is it really that bad?" I asked in disbelief. "What the bloody hell have they been saying?"

"Some are saying you killed Cedric," George said quietly.

There was silence. Then I burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry, they think I what?" I asked, holding my side. "Oh please— Cedric was one of my best friends! Why would I kill him?"

"Let me just say, first of all, this is NOT how I expected you to take this—"

"I'm broken," I said hoarsely. "I'm numb to this sort of thing— god the Ministry are a load of idiots."

George slowly took my hand in his. "The Ministry don't know you how we all do. You're no murderer, even if you did actually kill someone."

"It doesn't bother you that I killed a man?" I asked abruptly.

"Are you kidding?" George asked. "I get to tell people my girlfriend is badass Elizabeth Potter."

I raised an eyebrow.

"What, did you expect me to say I'm afraid?" George asked. "Because I'm not. You didn't kill him because you wanted to."

"But I wrote in the letters that the bursts hurt Harry too—"

"Beth," George said, holding my hands. "You didn't hurt him because you wanted to. You didn't. It's okay. No one blames you for what happened. You went through something horrible. I admire how strong you've been this entire time. THAT is how badass you are, and THAT is who I'm proud to call my girlfriend."

My lip trembled as I forced it into a small smile.

"Oh come here," George mumbled, pulling me closer and kissing my cheek as he hugged me to his chest.

_______

"Fred— George— NO, JUST CARRY THEM!"

Sirius and Harry dove behind the table as a cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of butterbeer, a wooden breadboard, and a knife hurtled toward them. I lazily summoned everything to be still in the air before me and slowly set them down on the table.

"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" Mrs Weasley screamed. "THERE WAS NO NEED— I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS— JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!"

"We're just trying to save a bit of time!" Fred cried. "Sorry Sirius, mate— didn't mean to—"

Sirius and Harry were both laughing though, which was a cue for Fred and George to both laugh as well. George came and sat down beside me, grinning.

"Thanks for saving them from certain death," George said, which made me peck his cheek quickly.

"Boys," Mr Weasley said from down the table, taking his glasses off, "your mother's right, you're supposed to show a sense of responsibility now you've come of age—"

"—none of your brothers caused this sort of trouble!" Mrs Weasley shrieked. "Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't Charm everything he met! Percy—"

She stopped, catching her breath, looking fearfully at Mr Weasley.

"Let's eat," Bill said quickly.

"It looks delicious, Mum," I said, which made Bill nod his head. Mrs Weasley offered me a small smile as she handed out plates.

After a very delicious meal and a lot of NOT talking about Percy, Mrs Weasley decided it was time for us all to go to bed.

"Not just yet, Molly," Sirius said, turning to look at me. "You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."

The atmosphere became tense.

"Trust me, I did," I said, looking back at Sirius. "But Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the twins know nothing about what the Order is doing because apparently none of us are allowed in—"

"You're all too young!" Mrs Weasley said, sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched.

"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" Sirius asked. "Beth and Harry have been trapped in that Muggle house for a month and we haven't been allowed to tell them anything even before they encountered the dementors. They've got a right to know what's been happening—"

"Hang on!" George said loudly.

"How come HARRY gets his questions answered?" Fred asked angrily.

"We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" George protested.

"You're too young, you're not in the Order," Fred mocked in a high pitched voice. "Harry's not even of age— how come he—"

"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," Sirius said. "That's your parents' decision. But Beth and Harry on the other hand—"

"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" Mrs Weasley said. "And Beth either, for that matter! They're both too young, ALL of them are too young! You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"

"Which bit?" Sirius asked icily.

"The bit about not telling Beth and ESPECIALLY NOT Harry more than they need to know," Mrs Weasley said.

"I don't intent to tell either of them more than they need to know, Molly," Sirius said. "But as Beth was the one who saw Voldemort come back and Harry was the one who survived the Killing Curse, they have more right than most to—"

"They're not members of the Order of the Phoenix!" Mrs Weasley said. "Beth is barely turning seventeen and Harry's just turned fifteen—"

"— and combined they've both dealt with as much as most in the Order," Sirius said. "And more than some—"

"No one's denying what they've done or been through!" Mrs Weasley said angrily. "But they're still—"

"Neither of them are children anymore!" Sirius said impatiently.

"They're not adults either—"

"Beth nearly is—"

"They're not JAMES, Sirius!"

"I'm perfectly clear who they are, thanks, Molly—"

"I'm not sure you are!" Mrs Weasley cried. "Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got double of your best friend back!"

"What's wrong with that?" Harry asked indignantly.

"Harry!" I hissed, not wanting him to get involved.

"What's wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look or act like him!" Mrs Weasley said, glaring daggers at Sirius. "You're still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"

"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?" Sirius demanded.

"Meaning you've been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and—"

"We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!"

"Arthur!" Mrs Weasley hissed. "Arthur, back me up."

Mr Weasley sighed. "Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Beth and Harry will have to be filled in to a certain extent now that they're staying at headquarters—"

"Yes but there's a difference between that and inviting them to ask whatever they like!"

"Personally," my godfather said, making Mrs Weasley turn to him, "I think it better that BOTH Beth and Harry get the facts— not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture— from us, rather than the garbled version from others."

"But—"

"Sirius and I are their godparents," my godfather said, pursing his lips. "And I THINK I speak for us both when I say they have a right to some information."

Sirius huffed.

"Well," Mrs Weasley said, looking around the table for support. "Well... I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Beth and Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who's got their best interests at heart—"

"They're not your children," Sirius said quietly.

"They good as are!" Mrs Weasley hissed. "Who else have they got?"

"They've got me!" Sirius snapped. "And Remus too—"

"I think," my godfather said loudly, "that they ought to have a say in this. They're old enough to decide for themselves."

"Listen," I said, biting my lip, "I agree with Mrs Weasley that Harry shouldn't know a lot of whatever you're going to say—"

"Hey!" Harry hissed indignantly.

"But I say that as his sister," I said. "As someone who's fought Voldemort beside him, I say he gets to know. We both get to know what's been going on."

"Very well," Mrs Weasley said, her voice cracking. "Ginny— Ron— Hermione— Fred— George— I want you out of this kitchen, now."

There was an instant uproar.

"We're of age!" Fred and George bellowed together.

"If Harry's allowed, why can't I?" Ron shouted.

"Mum, I want to!" Ginny wailed.

"NO!" Mrs Weasley said, her eyes shining in fury. "I absolutely forbid—"

"Molly, you can't stop Fred and George," Mr Weasley said wearily. "They're older than Beth, and are of age—"

"They're still at school—"

"But they're legally adults now," Mr Weasley sighed.

"I—oh all right then!" Mrs Weasley said. "Fred and George can stay, but Ron—"

"Harry'll tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!" Ron cried. "Won't— won't you?"

"Of course," Harry said immediately.

"Fine!" Mrs Weasley shouted. "Fine! Ginny— BED!"

Ginny didn't go quietly. In fact, she raged and screamed all the way upstairs, which led to Sirius' mum being woken up. After everything had calmed down, Sirius sat down across from George and I.

"Okay... what do you want to know?"

_______

After the Order did a whole lot of explaining throughout Mrs Weasley's constant huffs, Harry asked to join the Order.

"Absolutely not," Mrs Weasley said immediately.

"Why not?" Harry said angrily. "I'll join, I want to join, I want to fight—"

"No," my godfather said, making George and I turn to him. "The Order is comprised only of overage wizards. Wizards who have left school. None of you can join. I don't give permission for Elizabeth to join, and I hope Sirius agrees with me stating I do not give Harry permission to join."

Sirius nodded bitterly, scowling.

"To bed— now!" Mrs Weasley said.

"I have another question," I said, my hands shaking. George slowly put his hand over mine.

I turned to Harry and winced. "You can go to bed. It's not that important."

"But Beth!" He cried. "I want to—"

"It doesn't concern you," I said. "To bed. NOW."

Harry looked at me furiously, and headed out of the kitchen. Ron and Hermione followed them, and Mrs Weasley raised an eyebrow at me.

"I sent letters," I said, gulping. "About my powers. The bursts that keep happening. Can ANYONE explain to me why I'm experiencing this?"

Apparently no one actually knew what to say.

It was Moody who spoke first.

"No one knows for certain," he said, his eye whizzing around the room. "But Dumbledore did mention he had a theory about what might be happening. And it's not good."

"What?" I asked, squeezing George's hand tightly.

"There's a part of Duquette's theory that has never been tested," Moody said. "A part that none of the users have ever fulfilled. Your grandfather and the people before him all died with their powers. None of them were immortal like you. But that had nothing to do with it— it's what you've lived through."

"What— what's that supposed to mean?" George asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"In the history of people who've had powers that applied to Duquette's law, none of them have ever lived through what you have, Potter," Moody said in a low voice. "Not a single one of them. You notice this happens when you get really emotional?"

"Yeah," I said, my mouth dry.

"Well Duquette believed that the powers given could be... used up," Moody said, making my heart leap in my chest. "He theorized that emotion caused a release of powers— and it is in fact how you and those before you discovered they had these powers. Emotion plays a key role throughout the life of anyone with powers like these. But in your case— you've experienced more powerful cases of emotion than anyone before. What's probably happening, according to Duquette, is that all the emotion you've experienced is burning through the circuits in your body that enable you to have these powers. Meaning—"

"All the emotions I've been having are making me lose my powers," I deduced.

The silence that followed indicated I was right.

"So what does this mean in terms of me sacrificing myself?" I asked, my chest tight. "Does that still apply—?"

"Now this is a personal theory of mine," Moody said. "I believe it means that now you're more vulnerable to that, and even a small wound might make you lose your powers. The major problem here is that you might lose them before you even end up in a situation where you put your life on the line for someone."

"But what emotion does this even apply to?" Mr Weasley asked, his face full of concern.

"Any," Moody said. "Good or bad."

He turned to me and shook his head.

"I don't think you're going to last much longer with these powers, Potter, even if you do manage to get over what you went through in June."


	48. Chapter 48

The next week before the trial was spent trying to make Grimmauld Place as habitable as possible.

"Right, you lot," Mrs Weasley said as we all gathered in the drawing room to tackle the doxies lurking between the couch cushions. "You need to be careful because doxies bite and their teeth are poisonous. I've got a bottle of antidote here, but I'd rather nobody need it."

"I kind of want to let one bite me just for the heck of it," George said, leaning on me.

"But then I'll have to give you the antidote," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"So?" He said. "You just pour it in my mouth—"

"Funny you say that," I said, "because now I realize you have no idea that the doxy poison antidote will only work if administered via a large needle right up your—"

"Arse?" Fred asked curiously.

"Oh no, your eye," I said. "I'd need to stick a needle up your tear duct and to your brain."

George shivered and I laughed, smacking his shoulder.

"I'm kidding," I said. "Doxies aren't even poisonous— Mum only thinks so because Lockhart says they are."

"You scared me for a solid minute," George said, clutching his chest.

"Poor baby," I said, tiptoeing to kiss his cheek.

"When I say the word, start spraying immediately," Mrs Weasley said. "They'll come flying out at us, I expect, but it says on the sprays one good squirt will paralyze them. When they're immobilized, just throw them in this bucket."

We all raised our sprays. "All right— Squirt!" Mrs Weasley said.

I sprayed, and within a few seconds several full grown doxies flew out of the folds. I sprayed all across the air in front of me, and several paralyzed doxies hit the floor with loud thumps.

I picked them up and threw them in the trash, although one particular pink colored doxy caught my attention. I held it up in the air near my face.

"Cool!" George said, coming over to see it. "Reckon we should keep this—"

"George!" Mrs Weasley said sharply. "Throw that thing away!"

George pouted and threw the doxy in the trash.

More doxies began to fly out, and as I sprayed and they became paralyzed, I stuck my hand out and caught all three of them with my hand before they hit the floor.

"Woah Beth that was good," George said. "Reckon perhaps we picked the wrong Potter to be Seeker."

"Don't be silly," I said, although I smirked. "Harry's better by a long shot."

George grinned and kicked the curtains and sprayed, causing more doxies to fly out high into the air. I leapt onto his back and laughed as he spun me around while I sprayed, immobilizing several doxies in midair.

When Mrs Weasley wasn't looking, George grabbed one of the doxies and shoved it in his pocket.

"Souvenir?" I asked, smiling.

"We want to experiment with their saliva for our Skiving Snackboxes," he told me.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Remember the sweets you helped us come up with before last term ended?" George asked. "The ones that make you ill— but not seriously ill?"

"Yeah," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well Fred and I decided to name them Skiving Snackboxes," George said. "Since, well, they're for skiving off classes."

"Brilliant," I said, leaning over his shoulder and kissing him. "Did you name the individual sweets too?"

"Oh yea," George said. "The orange and purple ones that made you vomit then feel better we named Puking Pastilles."

"Genius," I sighed, spraying the doxies again.

"We named the green and blue ones Fainting Fancies," George said. "The red and pink are Nosebleed Nougats—"

"—Mum thought we'd been dueling when we couldn't stop the bleed," Fred whispered from behind me, making my heart jump.

"Bloody hell don't scare me like that," I hissed, spraying his face.

"Oi!" Fred cried indignantly. "Not in the face— hey Beth now that you mention it, would you want to test some of them like we did?"

"Sure," I said.

"Is it safe?" George asked, furrowing his eyebrows and setting me down. "You're not strong enough and if it's poisonous and we don't know—"

"Oh it's fine," I said, spraying a doxy near Ginny's foot. "Just because I'm losing my powers doesn't mean I'm gonna die right away."

"I worry," George mumbled, pecking my lips before pocketing another doxy and throwing the rest away.

"How's the joke shop stuff coming around?" I asked, recalling how I'd given the twins my Triwizard winnings.

"Well, we haven't had a chance to get premises yet," Fred said. "So we're running it as a mail order service at the moment. We put advertisements in the Daily Prophet last week."

"Someone in your family is going to see that," I said.

"Naw," George said. "Mum hasn't got a clue, and she won't soon. She won't read the Daily Prophet anymore cause it keeps spreading lies about you and Dumbledore."

"Lovely," I said. "But what about Bill and Charlie?"

"Well as far as we know they're no snitches," George said, grinning mischievously. "If they decide to convert and repent then we're screwed but otherwise we should be fine."

I shrugged and jumped up, immobilizing another group of doxies.

You're probably wondering why I'm not completely freaked out about the fact I can potentially lose my powers soon, regardless of whether I get my emotions under control or not.

The thing is, I'm starting to realize it won't be that bad. It's always been a pain for me to have them, and they've benefitted me at times but they were always just sort of in the way of me being as normal as possible.

Then another thing— something Ginny made me realize.

Of course when I got upstairs that night, Hermione and I told Ginny everything we were told. I even confided in them both about the situation with my powers— although I forbade them from telling Harry and Ron.

Ginny mentioned how she always thought I disliked my powers since they used to cause me pain. Then she brought up an interesting point.

"Here's the thing," she'd said, "if you want to get married it's going to suck if you're immortal because you're probably not going to age along with them and you'll have to see them die. If you lose your powers you can grow old with your soulmate."

Hermione had sighed dreamily at this. "Ginny's right, Beth. It's wonderful you have powers but you always told us it was a bit of a burden at times— and it's reason for You Know Who to want you on his side."

"Reckon maybe You Know Who will— excuse my language— fuck off when I lose them?" I inquired.

"Probably," Hermione said. "Probably..."

I guess they had a point. You probably still think I'm taking this a bit too calmly but truly, I don't mind. You'd feel the same if you were me, trust me.

"I think we'll tackle those after lunch," Mrs Weasley sighed, pointing at the glass fronted cabinets after we'd cleared the couches of doxies. The cabinet had daggers and other weapons inside of it— and something that looked suspiciously stained with blood.

The doorbell rang, and Sirius' mum began to screech again. Mrs Weasley squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

"Stay here," she said. "I'll bring up some sandwiches."

The instant she left, everyone dashed to the window to look who had come. I went over and peered next to Harry's shoulder.

"Oh it's that idiot Mundungus," I groaned. Mundungus had a rather large stack of cauldrons in his skinny arms.

"He's probably just looking for a safe place to keep them all," Harry said. "Isn't that what he was doing the night he was supposed to be tailing us? Picking up dodgy cauldrons?"

"Yeah, you're right!" George said. "Blimey, Mum won't like that."

Fred and George then went to the door and pressed their ears onto it.

"Mundungus is talking to Sirius and Kingsley," Fred said. "Can't hear properly... d'you reckon we can risk Extendable Ears?"

"Might be worth it," George said. "I could sneak upstairs and get a pair—"

Suddenly the sound downstairs was magnified by so much that Extended Ears became unnecessary.

"WE ARE NOT RUNNING A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS!" Mrs Weasley screamed.

"I love hearing Mum shouting at someone else!" Fred said, smiling. "It makes such a nice change."

"—COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE, AS IF WE HAVEN'T GOT ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT WITHOUT YOU DRAGGING STOLEN CAULDRONS INTO THE HOUSE—"

"The idiots are letting her get into her stride," George said, shaking his head. "You've got to head her off early, otherwise she builds up a head of steam and goes on for hours. And she's been dying to have a go at Mundungus ever since he sneaked off when he was supposed to be following you, Beth and Harry— and there goes Sirius' mum again—"

George began to close the door to muffle sound, but before he could a house elf darted in.

It walked around the room without noticing any of us were there— or simply not caring. "...smells like a drain and a criminal to boot, but she's no better, nasty old blood traitor with her brats messing up my Mistress's house, oh my poor Mistress, if she knew, if she knew the scum they've let in her house, what would she say to old Kreacher, oh the shame of it, Mudbloods and werewolves and traitors and thieves, poor old Kreacher, what can he do..."

"Hello Kreacher," Fred said loudly.

The house elf turned and pretended to act surprised that Fred was in the room.

"Kreacher did not see Young Master," he said, bowing. Then, in a perfectly clear and loud voice he added, "Nasty little brat of a blood traitor it is."

"Sorry?" George snapped. "Didn't catch that last bit."

I snorted slightly.

"Kreacher said nothing," the house elf mumbled, bowing to George as well. "And there's its twin, unnatural little beasts they are."

"That unnatural little beast happens to be my boyfriend," I said under my breath.

George smirked, and the house elf turned nastily to me.

"What is old Kreacher to do?" He asked sourly. "Surrounded by blood traitors and there's the Mudblood, standing there bold as brass.. oh if my Mistress knew... and there's a new boy, Kreacher does not know his name. What is he doing here, Kreacher does not know..."

"This is Elizabeth, Kreacher," Hermione said kindly. "Elizabeth Potter.

"The Mudblood is talking to Kreacher as though she is my friend!" Kreacher sneered. "If Kreacher's Mistress saw him in such company, oh what would she say—"

"Shut up!" I snarled. "Don't you call her a Mudblood!"

"It doesn't matter," Hermione whispered. "He's not in his right mind, he doesn't know what he's—"

"Don't kid yourself, Hermione, he knows exactly what he's saying," Fred said.

Kreacher looked at him with great dislike. Then he turned to me, and then to Harry, whom he seemed genuinely more interested in.

"Is it true? Is it Harry Potter? Kreacher can see the scar, it must be true, that's that boy who stopped the Dark Lord, Kreacher wonders how he did it..."

"Don't we all, Kreacher?" Fred asked, making me stifle a laugh.

"What do you want anyway?" George said.

"Kreacher is cleaning," he mumbled.

"A likely story," Sirius said from the door, making me jump. Kreacher bowed so low his nose grazed the carpet.

"Stand up straight," Sirius said. "Now, what are you up to?"

"Kreacher is cleaning," Kreacher said. "Kreacher lives to serve the noble House of Black—"

"—and it's getting blacker every day, it's filthy," Sirius said.

I wonder how long Sirius had been wanting to say that one.

"Master always liked his little joke," Kreacher hissed. "Master was a nasty, ungrateful swine who broke his mother's heart—"

"My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher," Sirius said. "She kept herself alive out of pure spite."

"Whatever master says," Kreacher said coldly. "Master is not fit to wipe slime from his mother's boots, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw Kreacher serving him, how she hated him, what a disappointment he was—"

"I asked what you were up to," Sirius repeated in an annoyed voice. "Every time you show up pretending to be cleaning, you sneak something off to your room so we can't throw it out."

"Kreacher would never move anything from its proper place in Master's house," Kreacher said indignantly. "Mistress would never forgive Kreacher if the tapestry was thrown out, seven centuries it's been in the family, Kreacher must save it, Kreacher will not let Master and the blood traitors and brats destroy it—"

"I thought it might be that," Sirius said. "She'll have put another Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of it, I don't doubt, but if I can get rid of it I certainly will. Now go away, Kreacher."

Kreacher left, muttering curses. "—comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw the house now, scum living in it, her treasures thrown out, she swore he was no son of hers and he's back, they say he's a murderer too—"

"Keep muttering and I will be a murderer!" Sirius snarled.

"Sirius he's not right in the head!" Hermione protested. "I don't think he realizes we can hear him."

"He does," I said, shaking my head. "He's saying all those things BECAUSE he knows we can hear him. This isn't Dobby, Hermione."

"Maybe you could set him free!" Hermione suggested to Sirius.

"We can't do that," Sirius said. "He knows too much about the Order. And anyway, the shock would kill him. You suggest to him that he leaves this house, see how he takes it."

Hermione sighed. Sirus walked across the room towards the tapestry Kreacher had been talking about. We followed him like puppies, Harry in particular getting close to him.

The tapestry itself looked very old. Doxies had gnawed the edges and it was very faded. The golden threat embroidered into it still shone, and the title was still clear: "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black— 'Toujours Pur'."

"You're not on here!" Harry said to Sirius.

"Neither is my cousin Andromeda," Sirius said. "She got blasted off for marrying a Muggle. I used to be there—" Sirius pointed at a bit that had been burned off. "My sweet old mother blasted me off after I ran away from home. Kreacher is quite fond of muttering the story under his breath."

"You ran away from home?" Harry asked.

"When I was sixteen," Sirius said. "I'd had enough."

"Where did you go?" Harry asked.

"Your dad's place," Sirius said, smiling to Harry then to me. "Your grandparents were really good about it; they sort of adopted me as a second son. Yeah, I camped out at your dad's during the school holidays and when I was seventeen I got a place of my own, my Uncle Alphard had left me a decent bit of gold— he's been wiped off here too, that's probably why— anyway, after that I looked after myself. I was always welcome at Mr and Mrs Potter's for Sunday lunch, though."

"But why did you leave?" Harry asked.

"Because I hated the whole lot of them," Sirius said bitterly. "My parents, with their Pureblood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal... my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them— that's him."

He pointed at a "Regulus Black" who appeared to have died about fifteen years ago.

"He was younger than me," Sirius said. "And a much better son, as I was constantly reminded."

"He died?" I asked quietly.

"Yes," Sirius said. "My parent's thought Regulus was a right little hero for joining up at first."

"Was he killed by an Auror?" Harry asked.

"Oh no," Sirius said. "No, he was murdered by Voldemort. Or on Voldemort's orders more likely— I doubt Regulus was ever important enough to be killed by Voldemort in person. From what I found out after he died, he got in so far, then panicked about what he was being asked to do and tried to back out. Well, you don't just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. It's lifetime service or death."

"Lunch," Mrs Weasley said, entering the room. Harry seemed to want to talk to Sirius alone, so I went with the others to enjoy some sandwiches.

"These are wonderful, Mum," I said. She beamed at me.

"Are you excited for this year?" Hermione asked me.

"Somewhat," I said. "I have to take two NEWTs this year."

"What for?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"Remember how I took two OWLs as a fourth year because I skipped a level of Potions and Transfiguration?" I asked. "Same deal now— but it's with NEWTs."

"Oh!" Hermione said. "Oh— what did you even get on the rest of your OWLs? You got Os on those two, right?"

"All Os except for History— I got an E," I said.

"Still did better than us," George said, putting his arm around me and kissing my cheek. "Right little mastermind."

"You guys helped a lot," I said, putting my hand on his chest as I finished my sandwich. "You and Fred are more brilliant than you let on."

"Alas! We save our brains for more important things," Fred said, covering his forehead dramatically. "But thanks for the compliment."

"What do you want to be, Beth?" Hermione asked.

"An Auror," I said. "At least I'm sure that's it."

"If you fail your NEWTs we could always use another hand in our future joke shop," George said.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said, grinning.

Later that day we moved onto the glass cabinets, which were very clean when nighttime came around.

Over the next few days we finished cleaning the drawing room entirely, and moved on to the dining room.

The rest of the cleaning really just ended up being a war with Kreacher, because he'd proceed to say rude things when we were trying to be productive. Sirius threatened him with clothes, but Kreacher just sneered "Master must do as Master wishes, but Master will not turn Kreacher away, no, because Kreacher knows what they are up to, oh yes, he is plotting against the Dark Lord, yes, with these Mudbloods and blood traitors and scum—"

Sirius then proceeded to throw Kreecher out of the room by his loincloth, much to Hermione's dismay.

Finally, the night before Harry's and I's trial before the Wizengamot came. The dinner was very tense, and I could tell Harry was worried out of his mind.

He tried to be optimistic— kept telling me he was sure I'd be fine even though the Ministry kind of did want my head for murdering Macnair— but the way he kept wringing his hands made me certain he was actually really scared.

"I've ironed your best clothes for tomorrow morning, Harry and Beth," Mrs Weasley said. "And I want you to wash your hair tonight too. A good first impression can work wonders."

"Thank you Mum," I said, smiling.

"How am I getting there?" Harry asked. "Beth can't Apparate."

"Oh, Arthur's taking you to work with him," Mrs Weasley said.

"You can wait in my office until it's time for the hearing," Mr Weasley said from down the table.

"Can Sirius and Uncle Remus come with us?" Harry asked hopefully.

"I have a bit of work to do," my godfather said. "I'm sorry."

"And Professor Dumbledore doesn't think it's a good idea for Sirius to go with you," Mrs Weasley added, making Sirius roll his eyes. "And I must say I—"

"—think he's quite right," Sirius growled.

"When did Dumbledore tell you that?" I asked, looking intently at Sirius.

"He came last night when you were all in bed," Mr Weasley said.

Harry frowned. "So he's avoiding us?"

"Oh no dear, I'm sure he's just quite busy," Mrs Weasley said dismissively.

"I don't believe that," I mumbled, making my godfather wince.

_______

I'm not going to bore you with details about our trial because I think you'd hate me— especially since I know that all you truly care about was the fact that—

"I knew it!" Ron yelled happily. "You always get away with stuff!"

George picked me up and spun me around, kissing me about a million times.

"They were bound to clear you," Hermione said excitedly. "There was no case against you, none at all!"

"Everyone seemed quite relieved though, considering they all knew I'd get off," Harry said. "They were so calm questioning Beth too— they didn't even bring up the Triwizard ordeal."

"Thank Merlin for that!" I sighed as George bear hugged me from behind. "I might've died if they asked questions about it."

Ginny whooped loudly, and she and Fred began to do a war dance with a chant that repeated "They got off" several times.

"That's enough, settle down!" Mr Weasley said, though he was smiling. "Listen, Sirius, Remus— Lucius Malfoy was at the Ministry."

" _They got off, they got off, they got off_ —"

"Really?" Sirius and my godfather asked in unison.

"Be quiet you two," Mr Weasley said sharply to Fred and Ginny. "We saw him talking to Fudge on level nine, then they went up to Fudge's office together. Remus— I think Dumbledore ought to know."

My godfather nodded grimly and Sirius crossed his arms.

"Well I'd better get going," Mr Weasley sighed, "there's a vomiting toilet in Bethnal Green waiting for me. Molly, I'll be late, I'm covering for Tonks, but Kingsley might be dropping in for dinner—"

" _They got off, they got off, they got off, they got off—"_

"That's enough— Fred, Ginny!" Mrs Weasley said. "Beth, Harry dears, come and sit down, have some lunch, you hardly ate breakfast."

I sat down and George immediately went to the stove and gathered me a plate of food, setting it in front of me and kissing my forehead. I noticed that behind him Mrs Weasley was squeaking and nudging Mr Weasley to look in our direction, looking like an excited fangirl. I blushed and began to eat.

Harry began to tell Ron and Hermione all about the trial, and George listened in as I ate quickly, not wanting to spend too much time eating.

"Course once Dumbledore turned up on your side there was no way they were going to convict you!" Ron said.

"Yeah he swung it for us," Harry said. "I wish he'd talked to us though, or even looked at us— he hasn't spoken to Beth or I since June."

The he hissed slightly, touching his scar with his hand.

"What's wrong?" I asked, dropping my spoon suddenly.

"Nothing," Harry said. "Scar.. it happens all the time now.."

I looked at Hermione, who appeared to be very anxious finding this out.

"What do you mean 'it happens all the time now?'" I inquired. "Why haven't you told me?"

"Don't worry, it's fine," Harry said urgently.

I pursed my lips, hearing Fred and Ginny were still singing.

Ron shrugged dismissively and began to speak louder to top their volume. "I bet Dumbledore turns up this evening to celebrate with us, you know!"

"I don't think he'll be able to, Ron," Mrs Weasley said, cutting in. "He's really very busy at the moment."

" _THEY GOT OFF, THEY GOT OFF_ —"

"SHUT UP!" Mrs Weasley screamed, making Ron and I laughed as Ginny jumped slightly and sat down abruptly.


	49. Chapter 49

A few days after the trial, Harry arrived at the breakfast table thoroughly convinced that the only reason Sirius was being distant with everyone was because he didn't want Harry to go back to Hogwarts.

"Well he's going to miss you," I said. "You're his godson."

"Don't you go feeling guilty though!" Hermione chided. "You belong at Hogwarts and Sirius knows it. Personally, I think he's just being selfish."

"And I would be too," George said. "I wouldn't fancy living in this house with only a hippogriff and psycho house elf."

"Don't call Kreacher that," Hermione said indignantly. "Sirius just got his hopes up that Harry would be coming to live here with him."

"I don't think that's true," Harry said. "He wouldn't give me a straight answer when I asked him if I could."

"He just didn't want to get his hopes up even more," Hermione said. "And he probably felt a bit guilty himself, because I think a part of him was really hoping you'd be expelled. Then you'd both be outcasts together."

"Come off it!" Harry and Ron told her.

"I'm sorry if that's not what you want to hear but that's what I THINK," Hermione said. "I mean, consider it— if you and Beth got expelled then he and Professor Lupin would have custody and you could all live together and it'd be like the Marauders were together again."

"Well Uncle Remus wouldn't—"

"He's just lonely," I said. "We're all leaving soon."

"Is no one going to stay here with him?" Harry inquired.

"I dunno," I said. "Uncle Remus has his own place AND Order work to do since he's allowed to be out and about. He probably wouldn't be home anyway."

Harry winced. "I'd like to stay."

"Fifth year won't be that bad," I sighed. "I survived it with the Tournament weighing me down."

"I'm not as smart as you," Harry said miserably.

"You have HERMIONE," Fred said. "You'll be fine."

Hermione face palmed herself. "No— he and Ron need to be more independent because I can't let them copy off my test."

"You say that every year," I said.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"That you won't let them copy homework... but then guess what happens..."

"I'm serious this time!"

"No, you're Hermione," George said quizzically, making me smack his shoulder.

"Very funny," Hermione said.

"It was sort of funny," Fred noted.

The door burst open and Ginny ran in.

"Booklists have arrived!" She cried, carrying a wad of envelopes and dropping them on the table.

"About time!" I hissed. "I thought they'd forgotten— they usually come much earlier than this!"

George tore open his letter and looked over his list.

"Looks like Dumbledore's found a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," he said. "There's a book assigned for the class."

"About time too," Fred said.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well, we overheard Mum and Dad talking on the Extendable Ears a few weeks back," George said. "And from what they were saying, Dumbledore was having real trouble finding anyone to do the job this year."

"Not surprising, is it, when you look at what's happened to the last four," Fred said.

"One sacked, one dead, one's memory removed, and one locked in a trunk for nine months," Harry said. "Yeah, I see what you mean."

"That position really is cursed, bloody frickin' hell," I mumbled. I looked at Ron and noticed he was gaping at his Hogwarts letter.

"What's up with you, Ron?" I asked.

Fred and George both got up and peered over Ron's shoulder.

"Prefect?" Fred gasped loudly. "PREFECT?"

George reached into the envelope took a shiny badge from the letter. "No way!"

"There's been a mistake!" Fred said, snatching the letter from Ron. "No one in their right mind would make Ron a prefect..."

"Don't be rude!" I hissed.

"Ron Weasley as a prefect doesn't even make sense—"

"Oh you two, stop that!" I hissed. "Ron is worthy of being a prefect too!"

"Ugh," George said. "Ickle Ronnie the prefect!"

"Oh Mum's going to be revolting!" Fred wailed.

Hermione was smiling, and she showed me her envelope, revealing she'd been made a prefect too. She blinked three times fast.

"I thought Harry would be made a Prefect!" She thought. "I don't have a problem with Ron though..."

"Harry doesn't need the extra stress," I thought back. "It must be the same reason why Dumbledore never made me a prefect."

The door opened again and I snapped out of Hermione's mind. Mrs Weasley came in with all our freshly laundered robes.

"Ginny said the booklists have arrived!" Mrs Weasley said happily. "If you give them to me I'll take them over to Diagon Alley this afternoon and get your books while you're packing. Ron, I'll have to get you more pajamas, these are at least six inches too short, I can't believe how fast you're growing... what color would you like?"

"Get him red and gold to match his badge," George said with a smirk.

"Match his what?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"His badge," Fred said. "His lovely shiny new prefect's badge."

Mrs Weasley gaped at Ron. "His... but... Ron... you're not...?" Ron held up his badge for her to see.

Then she shrieked loudly and ran to him, tackling him in a hug. "I don't believe it! Oh Ron how wonderful! A prefect! That's everyone in the family!"

"What are Fred and I, next door neighbors?" George asked indignantly. I patted his shoulder and laughed lightly.

Mrs Weasley ignored him.

"Wait until your father hears!" She cried. "I'm so proud of you, Ron! What wonderful news... you could end Head Boy just like Bill and Percy, it's the first step! Oh, what a thing to happen in the middle of all this worry, I'm just thrilled, oh Ronnie—"

Fred and George started making retching noises.

"Well what will it be?" Mrs Weasley asked. "We gave Percy an owl, but you've already got one, of course."

"W-what do mean?" Ron asked.

"You've got to have a reward for this!" Mrs Weasley said. "How about a nice new set of dress robes?"

"We already bought him some," Fred said sourly.

"Or a new cauldron," Mrs Weasley suggested. "Charlie's old one's rusting through, or a new rat, you always liked Scabbers—"

"Mum?" Ron asked. "Can I have a new broom?"

Mrs Weasley faltered.

"Not a really good one!" Ron said. "Just a new one for a change..."

Mrs Weasley hesitated then nodded. "Of course you can.. Well I'd better get going if I've got a broom to buy too— lists please! I'll see you all later... Little Ronnie a prefect! And don't forget to pack your trunks... a prefect, oh I'm all of the dither!" She then kissed Ron's cheek and left.

"You don't mind if we don't kiss you do you Ron?" Fred asked.

"We could curtsy, if you like," George said.

"Oh shut up," Ron growled.

"Or what?" Fred asked with an evil grin. "Going to put us in detention?"

"I'd love to see him try," George sniggered.

"He could if you don't watch out!" Hermione hissed.

"Drop it, Hermione," Ron mumbled.

"We're going to have to watch our step, George!" Fred said. "With these two on our case..."

"Yeah, it looks like our law breaking days are finally over!" George said dramatically.

"Shut up," I groaned. "Come on, upstairs you two—"

"Beth?" Harry cut in. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," I said as Fred Disapparated, probably to his room. "I'll meet you upstairs, George."

He nodded and Disapparated.

"Those two!" Hermione said, scowling. "Don't pay attention to them, Ron, they're only jealous!"

I could hear the twins roaring with laughter upstairs, and I winced.

"I doubt it," Ron said. "They've always said only prats become prefects... still... they've never had new brooms! I wish I could go with Mum and choose... she'll never be able to afford a Nimbus but there's the new Cleansweep out— that'd be great. I think I'll go and tell her I like the Cleansweep, just so she knows..."

And just like that Ron darted out of the room. Harry looked down. I winced.

"Erm— Harry," Hermione said, "could I borrow Hedwig so I can tell Mum and Dad? They'll be really pleased— I mean prefect is something they can understand—"

"Yeah no problem," Harry said in a hoarse voice. "Take her!"

Hermione left to go get Hedwig from Ron's room, leaving Harry and I alone in the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" I asked quietly.

Harry furrowed his brows.

"You can talk to me," I said.

Harry screwed up his face and put it in his hands. "I dunno why I'm so mad about this. I'm better at Quidditch than him but nothing else... but but, well.. all those adventures since first year, Ron and Hermione were with me for those and so were you— but— not all the time! They— they didn't fight Quirrel with us. They didn't take on Riddle and the basilisk like we did. They didn't get rid of all those dementors the night Sirius escaped, that was all me! I've definitely done more than him."

"Harry," I said, rubbing his back, "you do realize the answer to your question is in what you just said, right?"

Harry looked up at me, confused.

"Dumbledore didn't make me a Prefect either," I said. "And not to be cocky but if anyone in my year would have gotten it, it would have been me. Think about everything we've been through. Do you really want that stress now that Voldemort is back?"

Harry huffed. "You're right," he sighed.

"Listen to me," I said. "You and Ron are both amazing, both deserving of a lot of things. But right now, Ron hasn't got as much stress as you. He isn't worried about the man that killed his parents coming after him and his siblings. He will be able to do the duties diligently. Dumbledore is giving you a chance to relax a bit. Try not to be jealous..."

Harry winced as Ron burst into the kitchen.

"Just caught her!" He said, panting. "She says she'll get the Cleansweep if she can."

Harry looked at me and I nodded.

"Listen Ron," Harry said. "Well done mate."

Ron frowned. "I never thought it would be me! I thought it would be you!"

"Nah I've caused too much trouble," Harry said, echoing Fred and flashing me a grin.

"Yeah," Ron said. "Yeah I suppose. Well we'd better get our trunks packed, hadn't we?"

"Yeah," Harry said, waving for Ron to follow him upstairs.

I smiled and finished sipping my pumpkin juice before heading out behind them to the twins bedroom.

I pushed the door open and saw only George inside.

"What happened to the other one?" I asked, smirking as I shut the door behind me.

"Went to sent an owl to Angelina," George said, waving his wand so a piece of parchment became a small paper airplane.

"Cool," I said, going to sit beside him.

George smiled and put his arm around me, kissing my cheek.

"You know," he mumbled, pressing another kiss under my jaw. "We haven' had a proper snog in awhile."

"No, we haven't," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Mhm," George said, pulling me onto his lap and pressing his lips firmly on mine. "I think Captain's secured for you next year."

"You think?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Naw— Angelina would give it to Katie probably."

"Naw," George mocked, grinning and caressing my face. "Quidditch Captain belongs to you."

"Thanks for having faith in me," I laughed, stroking his hair.

He looked right into my eyes and smiled.

"You're very happy today," I noticed, brushing a strand of his hair behind his ear.

"Just thinking," he said. "I do expect you noticed my mum can't help but squeal when she sees us together."

"I noticed," I said with a laugh, tracing his nose with my index finger. "Makes me feel like I'm on a reality show."

"What's that?" George asked, cocking his eyebrow.

"It's a Muggle thing," I said. "But it reflects how observant she is of our day to day lives..."

"She wants me to marry you," George said, biting his lip.

I smiled and shrugged. "Alright."

George's cheeks turned pink. "That's not silly to you?"

"What's silly is that you find it silly," I said, kissing him firmly again. "I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else."

"Would you want babies?" George asked abruptly, his face now red from embarrassment.

I laughed and shrugged, twirling a strand of his hair in my finger. "I suppose so. We could make cute babies..."

George smiled, but he looked mortified. "Bloody hell don't let my mum hear you say that, she'll start making baby clothes right after."

"Bill and Fleur still have to have their wedding," I noted.

"Reckon they're actually going to get married?" George asked.

"Fleur's had Bill in mind as her future husband since I mentioned he existed," I said. "Trust me— if he doesn't propose, she will."

George laughed, then bit his lip again.

"Are your lips chapped?" I asked quietly, leaning closer and winking.

"A bit," he said.

I pressed my lips on his, leaving them there for a few seconds before pulling away.

George's eyes were closed and he was grinning. "More please."

"Okay," I whispered, pulling him in for another kiss.

He snaked his hands down my shoulders to my back and held onto my hips firmly as my right hand cupped his face, my left running my fingers through his hair.

"Oh come on," Fred's voice came from the door.

"Calm down, Freddie, it isn't the end of the world," George grumbled.

"I don't want to walk in on anything," Fred said, winking as he left the room, locking the door behind him.

George turned red and shook his head. He looked at me as if he had a question.

"Come on, spill," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine," George sighed. "Look— but Fred keeps asking if you and I have... slept together and he keeps saying we should but if you don't want to—"

"Oh Fred," I sighed, rolling my eyes. I looked at George and shook my head. "I'm sorry, love, you're amazing but I'm not up for that yet. I think there's more to a relationship than just sleeping with each other."

"I think that too," George said, nodding his head. "Bloody hell I'm glad we agree on that— I just really don't want to pressure you into anything..."

"So you want to," I asked slowly.

George looked down and I laughed.

"No, no, don't be ashamed," I said, shaking my head. "I'm glad you're honest about it— personally I really wouldn't mind but.... not yet. Okay?"

"Okay," George said, smiling.

"We can still snog though," I said quietly, leaning closer to press a hard kiss on George's jaw.

"Hmm I like the sound of that," he mumbled as I trailed kisses down his neck.

He pulled my face upward and slammed his lips onto mine again, slipping his tongue into my mouth. I groaned slightly, my tongue trying to push his down. George's hands moved down to grab my bottom and he pulled me back onto his body as he laid down so I was on top of him. I gripped his shoulders for support as I snogged him with passion.

I heard the lock click and whined as I got off George, seeing Fred coming inside with a smirk on his face.

________

Mrs Weasley had set out a banner to congratulate Hermione and Ron on becoming prefects. Harry seemed to be in a much better mood now, and I was glad to see it clear on his face.

"I think we'd have a little party, not a sit down dinner," Mrs Weasley said happily as we walked in and sat down at the table. "Your father and Bill are on their way, Ron, I've sent them both owls and they're thrilled!"

Fred gagged and I nudged him roughly.

"What?" He asked.

"Be nice, please," I said. He rolled his eyes and grinned.

Shortly after we were served butterbeer, the real Moody limped in with his cane.

"Oh Alastor I'm so glad you're here!" Mrs Weasley said. "We've been wanting to ask you for ages— could you have a look in the writing desk in the drawing room and tell us what's inside it? We haven't wanted to open it just in case it's something really nasty."

"No problem, Molly," he said. His electric eye whizzed around and shot upward through the ceiling.

"Drawing room," he mumbled. "Desk in the corner? Yeah I see it... Yeah it's a boggart... Want me to go up and get rid of it, Molly?"

"No, no," Mrs Weasley said. "I'll do it myself later. You have your drink. We're having a bit of a celebration actually, fourth prefect in the family!"

"Fred and I are still next door neighbors here," George sighed, leaning on me.

"You're my favorite next door neighbors," I said, winking.

George grinned and kissed me, which made Mrs Weasley sigh.

"Well I think a toast is in order!" She said proudly. "To Ron and Hermione, the new Gryffindor prefects!" We all drank to them.

"I was never a prefect myself," Tonks said with a smirk. "My Head of House said I lacked certain necessary qualities."

"Like what?" Ginny asked.

"Like the ability to behave myself," she said. Ginny and I laughed, but Hermione looked uncomfortable and took a sip of Butterbeer— choking on it.

"What about you, Sirius?" Ginny asked, thumping Hermione on the back.

Sirius let out a laugh. "No one would've made me a prefect, I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge."

"I think Dumbledore might have hoped that I would be able to exercise some control over my best friends," my godfather said. "I need scarcely say that I failed dismally."

After they finished eating, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all went upstairs to finish packing. The twins and I stayed behind to chat with the adults for awhile.

"There really was no controlling us," Sirius said proudly, going back to the subject of prefects. "It was a lost cause from the start."

"Who was the other prefect?" Fred asked. "In your year, I mean."

"Your mother of course," my godfather said, looking at me. "She was the stricter prefect, actually. Everyone thought I'd be harsher but after about a month they learned if they did something bad and needed help, I was the go to person, not Lily."

"Oh we'd definitely be after you all the time," George said, which made my godfather let out a hearty laugh.

"Ah that Lily," Sirius sighed. "What a goodie goodie. She only ever really did something bad once."

"Getting pregnant with me," I deduced, which made Sirius laugh.

"We were all pretty shocked," my godfather said. "I remember Sirius was in utter disbelief and denial— 'No way did Prongs knock Evans up!'" He mocked in a high pitched voice which was nothing like Sirius's.

"Remus," Mrs Weasley hissed.

"Sorry," my godfather said, looking at George and I sternly.

"What?" I asked.

Mr Weasley looked at his wife, and I heard Fred snicker.

"Oh no!" George said suddenly, his eyes widening. "No— we're not—"

"You better not be," Mrs Weasley said, crossing her arms.

"I swear we're not," I said, although I was laughing.

Mr and Mrs Weasley then turned to Fred.

"Oi— ask them—" he said indignantly.

George and I snickered, hiding our laughs under the table.

"All of you better behave this year," Mrs Weasley said. "I don't need an owl saying you've all decided on a great finale for your seventh year or that someone threw someone else off the Astronomy Tower—"

"That might be fun though!" Fred whined.

"It's stupid and irresponsible," Mrs Weasley said fiercely. "Boys it's your last year... make it worthwhile but don't do stupid things, please..."

"And be careful," my godfather sighed. "We don't want to put restrictions on any of you— but you need to be careful. Be safe about things—"

"Uncle Remus!" I groaned. "Look, I'm not my mother, I'm not going to get pregnant or anything—"

"I'm just saying," my godfather said, holding his hands up in surrender. "I know you three don't like being bored and you'll do silly things—"

"Like raiding the kitchen!" Fred said.

"Exactly!" I said. "The worst we do is prank people and that's not endangering anyone—"

"You know what type of silly things I mean," my godfather said.

"We don't do that," Fred said.

"Yeah bloody right," George mumbled, making me giggle.

"All of you, this isn't a time to be joking," my godfather said. "We're saying it because we care—"

"And we're listening!" I protested.

"And we're being serious," Mr Weasley said firmly.

"But THAT'S Sirius—"

"Oh enough with that joke!" Mrs Weasley sighed, although she cracked a smile.

"Just don't be stupid," Sirius said. "Alright?"

"Gotcha," I said, which the twins nodded to.

"And if you're going to do... stuff—"

"Sirius!" We whined.

"—if you're going to do stuff, use protection—"

"—we don't want accidents," my godfather added.

"Like me," I said, which made everyone burst out laughing.

"I hope SOMETHING of what we said got through to you," Mrs Weasley sighed.

"It did," George said. "Trust me Mum— it's fine, we're not idiots."

"Well, alright— to bed now," Mrs Weasley sighed, shaking her head.

"Goodnight then," I said, going over to ruffle Sirius and my godfather's hair and to kiss Mr and Mrs Weasley on the cheek.

"Goodnight, dear," Mrs Weasley said, smiling.

"Sweet dreams, all of you," Mr Weasley said.

George laced his fingers through mine and led me out. As Fred closed the door behind us, we all lingered behind to eavesdrop.

After a minute the adults began to speak again.

"I know we overdid it, Sirius, don't look at me like that— I just worry that Beth and George might get careless!" I heard Mrs Weasley say in a low whisper.

"I know that," Sirius said. "But they understand that. I didn't think they needed this talk to begin with—"

"I'm glad we had it," Mr Weasley said. "Even if they don't need it, we're just reminding them of what behavior they should be exhibiting when we're not there."

"Beth and George though," Mrs Weasley sighed. "I've been observing this entire time— they act like an adult couple. It worries me they might be doing adult couple things too."

"I understand that, but Beth is right, Molly, all those times she said she's not like Lily," my godfather said. "She's more careful, I know she is. And George is a good man, you and Arthur raised him right. If I thought he was a bad influence for her and that they might do something like that I wouldn't have given my permission for them to date."

"It worries me," Mrs Weasley repeated softly. "And there's no telling what Fred is doing, something tells me that one has done more exploring than the other two—"

Fred gasped and clutched his chest as though deeply offended, leaving George and I to stifle our snickering as we scurried upstairs before they discovered we were there.


	50. Chapter 50

"WILL YOU LOT GET DOWN HERE NOW, PLEASE!" Mrs Weasley bellowed to everyone else, who was still upstairs. I helped Ginny up from the floor since she'd been knocked down by the trunks the twins had bewitched.

"You alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine," Ginny squeaked, rubbing her side.

I wheeled around immediately after and smacked Fred on the back of the head.

"Hey!" He whined.

I turned to George and he stepped back. I rolled my eyes and tapped his face lightly.

"He doesn't get slapped?" Fred asked indignantly.

"YOUR trunk was the one that hit her," I chirped. "Besides— he apologized."

"Oh fine," Fred sighed, turning to a departing Ginny. "Sorry."

Ginny didn't seem to have heard him, and walked into the kitchen.

"Can you take the slap back?" Fred asked.

"Even if I could, I wouldn't," I said. "You deserved it."

Fred pouted and George grinned, putting his arm around me.

"Harry and Beth, you're to come with me and Tonks!" Mrs Weasley called as Harry came down with his trunk dragging behind him. "Leave your trunks here— Alastor's got the luggage. Oh for heaven's sake, Sirius, Dumbledore said no!"

I looked down and saw the black dog that was Sirius standing next to Harry. I grinned at him.

"I can turn invisible and Sirius can play it off like he's me," I said innocently.

"Absolutely not," Mrs Weasley said. "Sirius, no!"

Sirius sat down and wagged his tail, looking at her sadly.

"Oh honestly!" Mrs Weasley said, realizing she couldn't convince him otherwise. "Well, on your own head be it! Come on you two."

George gave me a quick peck on the cheek before I grabbed Harry's hand and led him out behind Mrs Weasley.

She led us to the corner of the street, where Tonks was waiting as an old woman. (Did I mention she's a Metamorphagus? Well, now you know.)

"Wotcher, Harry and Beth!" She said. "Better hurry up, hadn't we, Molly?"

"I know I know," Mrs Weasley groaned. "Oh I wish Arthur could've gotten us cars from the Ministry again... but Fudge wouldn't let him borrow so much as an empty ink bottle these days... how Muggles can stand traveling without magic..."

"Why not?" Harry asked me in a low whisper.

"Probably because Fudge thinks Dumbledore and his supporters are lunatics," I sighed.

"If we weren't called the Order of the Phoenix, what would we be called?" Harry inquired..

"What do you mean?" I asked quizzically.

"Well you know how Voldemort's followers are called Death Eaters," Harry said. "What would our name be?"

"Dunno, honestly, maybe Death Busters," I said.

"How in Merlin's name did Voldemort even decide to call his posse—"

"They're not a posse, Harry—"

"His gang—"

"Not necessarily a gang either—"

"His followers—"

"Much better."

Harry sighed and laughed slightly. "How did he decide to call them Death Eaters?"

"Beats me," I said. "Midnight idea, perhaps?"

"That's strange to consider," Harry said, shivering slightly.

Sirius barked at this and Harry and I laughed, much to Mrs Weasley's dismay.

It took us about twenty minutes to walk all the say to Kings Cross from Grimmauld Place. Along the way Sirius scared a few cats for Harry and I's amusement, but other than that it was a pretty boring walk. Harry's 'Voldemort Posse' jokes were really only funny to Sirius and I since Tonks had to remain alert to our surroundings while she escorted us and Mrs Weasley shivered at the mere mention of Voldemort's name.

"I hope the others make it in time!" Mrs Weasley said anxiously, wringing her hands together as we arrived at Kings Cross.

"They will," I said, making her smile a bit.

"Beth!"

I turned and saw Lee running up to me.

"Hey!" I said as he hugged me.

"Hullo," Lee said. "Nice dog, you two!"

"Thanks!" Harry said, grinning as Sirius wagged his tail.

"Oh good here's Alastor with the luggage, look!" Mrs Weasley said.

"All okay," Moody said, coming over and handing Harry and I our trunks. He looked at Lee and leaned closer to Mrs Weasley.

"Don't think we were followed. I'll still be reporting Sturgis to Dumbledore," he growled. "That's the second time he's not turned up in a week. Getting as unreliable as Mundungus."

Shortly after he went back to stand near the entrance, everyone else arrived and grabbed their trunks quickly.

"Well look after yourselves," my godfather said, hugging me and pressing a kiss on my forehead. "You too, Harry, be careful." He moved to hug Harry too, ruffling his hair.

"Keep your head down and your eyes peeled," Moody grumbled to me as he hobbled over. "And don't forget, all of you, careful what you put in writing. If in doubt, don't put in a letter at all."

"Alright," I said. He nodded and stepped away.

"Quick quick!" Mrs Weasley said as the train whistle sounded. "Write... be good... if you've forgotten anything we'll send it on... onto the train now, hurry."

Sirius stood up on his hind legs and propped himself on Harry's shoulders. I laughed but Mrs Weasley shrieked.

"For heaven's sake, act more like a dog, Sirius!" She cried. Sirius pouted. I kneeled down to scratch behind his ears and kissed his head.

"Bye Uncle Sirius," I said, waving as George laced his fingers with mine, pulling me into the train behind Fred and Lee.

Lee found us an empty compartment and we sat down inside once we'd placed our trunks on the racks.

"So," I said, leaning back on George. "Where are the other twins?"

Lee pursed his lips.

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, my heart beginning to beat fast.

"Listen, Beth," Lee said slowly, looking around at all of us, "I don't think it has anything to do with you but Bixby and Batavia's parents don't want them to come back to Hogwarts."

"They what?" I cried, my chest tightening.

"After what happened to Cedric they got afraid," Lee said. "You know Mrs Hoganson— she's paranoid about everything and Mr Hoganson is the biggest safety precaution implementer in the entire Ministry. They've been arguing to be allowed to come back, but it's been a week since I got any letter so I dunno how it ended."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" I asked in annoyance, seeing George and Fred didn't seem surprised at this information.

"Batavia didn't want to worry you," Lee said. "You were stressed enough with the trial when it first started and then they thought you needed to have a more relaxed summer—"

"So I just don't get told that my two best friends might not ever come back to Hogwarts?" I hissed, glaring at everyone in the compartment. "What— this just stresses me more for the upcoming school year! How could you not tell me?"

I felt a hand on my shoulder and flinched, turning to George.

"Trust me, we wanted to tell you," he said. "But Batavia and Bixby said not to."

"This is absurd," I growled. "Their parents can't actually think they'll be any safer in America!"

"I'm just carrying the information they gave me," Lee said. "There could be other things we aren't aware of— perhaps they won't even end up in an American school."

I huffed very loudly. "So if we don't see them by tomorrow we'll know they lost their argument and won't be coming back?"

"Basically," Fred said quietly, which made my lip tremble in fury.

Angelina and Alicia joined us shortly after the train began to move. They didn't know about the Batavia and Bixby situation, which meant Lee had to explain the situation again. This only made me angrier, and sadder.

The train arrived at Hogwarts when it was already very dark. I changed my eyes to be able to see in the dark, which caused me slight pain but nothing too serious.

I immediately noticed that Hagrid was not standing by the platform calling for first years.

"Where the hell is Hagrid?" I growled as George pulled me through the crowd.

"No idea," he said. "Maybe they needed him inside the school?"

"But he's always here," I groaned. "I don't like this— too many things are changing..."

George winced as he opened the door of one of the carriages for me. I held up a finger urging him to wait a second as I went to the front of the carriage to pet Tenebrus, one of my favorite thestrals.

I'd been able to see them since first year, and had given them all names. Of course since I knew none of my friends could see them I hadn't told them this.

I came back to where George was and stepped inside, seeing we were in a carriage with a blonde Ravenclaw girl probably in fourth year.

She looked up at me with big curious eyes.

"I saw you petting him," she said happily, making George look confused.

"That's Tenebrus," I said without thinking.

"What the hell?" George asked.

"The thestrals," I said, pointing at the creature harnessed to the front of the carriage. "You can't see them, but I can... and you can too..."

The Ravenclaw girl nodded. "I saw my mother die," she said in a quiet, dreamy voice.

"I'm sorry," I said, wincing. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Luna Lovegood," she replied. "And you're George Weasley and Elizabeth Potter."

"How'd you know?" George inquired.

"Ginny talks about you two all the time," she said, looking back at her newspaper, which I could see was The Quibbler.

"You're a fourth year, then," I deduced.

"Oh yes," Luna said, staring intently at the newspaper.

George and I decided to let her read in peace.

When the carriages arrived at the castle, I looked eagerly around for Hagrid, but didn't see him absolutely anywhere.

"Where IS Hagrid?" I hissed.

George rubbed his temples. "Listen you can't tell anyone I told you this but this summer Dumbledore sent him on a mission."

"For the love of Merlin!" I shrieked, pressing my lips tightly together. "No one tells me anything anymore!"

George frowned and I sighed, shaking my head and grabbing his hand.

"Hey," he said, taking his hand out of my grasp to snake it around my waist. "You worry too much. That's why people don't like telling you things."

I rolled my eyes and shivered. "It's agonizing," I said, my eye twitching.

"What the hell was that?" George inquired, touching my face softly. "Are those random twitches happening again?"

"Just now," I said as he led me into the Great Hall. "Don't worry."

"I'll worry," he said. "You're worried."

"I'm the Mama Bear it's my job to be worried," I said.

"And I'm your boyfriend that's my job too," he said, pecking me on the lips before looking at the staff table. When his mouth dropped open I snapped my head in the direction he was facing.

A woman in pink was sitting up there. The same woman in pink who had been in Harry and I's trial and vehemently opposed us being allowed back to Hogwarts and receiving no punishment.

"That bitch," I growled.

"Damn," George said. "What did she do."

I told him, and he rolled his eyes.

"Bloody hell this year is shit already and it's been about four hours," he said.

"You're telling me," I muttered as we sat down and began to eat the food that appeared.

"Well now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast," Dumbledore said as we finished, "I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices."

I looked up at him intently, sipping my pumpkin juice.

"First years ought to know that the forest in the grounds is out of bounds to students— and a few of our older students ought to know by now too."

Dumbledore looked right to George, Fred, Lee, and I, and I laughed slightly. I stopped abruptly though, because the thought of fooling around in the Forbidden Forest brought memories of doing so with Bixby and Batavia.

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me for what he tells me is the four hundred and sixty-second time, to remind you that all magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, not are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr. Filch's office door."

"Filch just wants to make us deteriorate mentally," Fred said. "I honestly doubt that poor bloke has ever smiled or laughed..."

"We have two changes in staffing this year. We are pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons."

I gaped at Professor Grubbly Plank, my mouth going dry. Had something happened to Hagrid on this supposed mission?

"We are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"Oh crud," I said, covering my face. "This year cannot possibly get any worse."

"Knock on wood," Lee said immediately.

"what?" I asked.

"To not jinx it," Fred said.

But I waved my hand in the air, my attention to the front, because a girly 'hem hem' from Umbridge had just interrupted Dumbledore.

I could see even the Professors at the staff table were completely surprised at the rude interruption— which made me abnormally happy. Perhaps we could all strike a revolution and boot her out. Anyone who wears that much pink should go straight to Azkaban to begin with.

"Thank you Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome," Professor Umbridge said. She looked around at us and smiled, making me feel very uncomfortable. "Well it's lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say! And such happy little faces looking back at me!"

"Do any of us look happy?" I said sharply, making George and Fred snicker.

"I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all, and I'm sure we'll be very good friends," Umbridge said.

"I'll be her pen pal when she goes to Azkaban for wearing that godawful cardigan," I said, which made George cover his mouth to suppress his laughter.

"Hem hem," Umbridge said, seeing that we'd all begun striking up our own conversations. I gritted my teeth at her, smacking George slightly to get him to stop laughing. Umbridge smiled wryly at us.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the Wizarding community must be passed down through the generations lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished, and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching.

"Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty tasm of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation...."

I yawned, rubbing my eyes. George looked at me, also looking sleepy. I patted my shoulder for him to lean on and he did, wrapping his arms around me.

"....because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in fullness of time, to be recognized as errors of judgement. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then in a new era of openness, effectiveness, and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited."

Umbridge then smiled again and went to sit down. No one really clapped except Dumbledore and a few respectful staff members.

"Thank you very much, Professor," Dumbledore said. "Now as I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held..."

"The Ministry has infiltrated Hogwarts," I said, angrily breaking my bread in half. "What— utter— joy."

"The Ministry is the most incompetent system to exist," Lee said. "My dad said so himself."

"He's not wrong," Fred said, rolling eyes. "The Ministry are Morons."

"Fudge is a moron," George said, counting on his fingers. "Umbridge is a moron... Malfoy is a moron... Percy is a moron..."

"Basically," I said, shaking my head.

Fred and Angelina walked ahead to the Common Room, leaving George, Lee, and I to continue alone.

When we got to the Common Room, Lee immediately went to talk to Alicia while George and I went to sit on the couch.

"When is he going to tell her he fancies her?" I mumbled as I stroked George's hair.

"Dunno," George said. "He's fancied her since third year."

"And she's fancied him since fifth," I said.

"They're both more oblivious than we were," George said, smirking.

"We were honestly really dumb," I said, chuckling slightly.

"I still don't understand it," George said. "Like I really had no indication you might fancy me at all."

"I felt you might fancy me," I said. "But I was convinced you didn't because you never made a move. I might have to be the one to propose to you."

George looked at me, slightly bewildered.

"Propose?" He asked.

"Like when I graduate," I said. "Not immediately after of course—"

"Propose to get... married?"

I raised an eyebrow. "No, propose to begin a professional relationship as drug dealers— of course to get married!"

George looked down.

"Unless you don't want to," I said.

George's eyes widened. "No— no it's not that—"

"Come on," I said, "you get all nervous every time the idea of us eventually getting married comes up. I like looking to the future. I can stop mentioning it, if you want."

"It's not I don't want to marry you," George said hastily. The next part he added in such a low whisper I barely heard him. "Because trust me you have no idea how much I want to."

"I'm sorry?" I asked innocently. "What was that last part."

"Oh nothing," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Er— I just dunno..."

"It's fine," I said. "I'll just not mention it."

George gulped slightly, which made me feel like he was hiding something.

The Common Room door opened and I looked up, my hand flying to cover my mouth in order to muffle my scream.

Batavia and Bixby had just walked in, but something was not right.

Bixby had a black eye, and it didn't look like it'd been made by anyone our age.  
  


_A/N: Short filler, sorry!_


	51. Chapter 51

He did WHAT?"

Bixby's lip trembled slightly as Batavia sighed, her hands shaking.

"Batavia!" Angelina shrieked. "You can't be serious—"

"I am serious!" She said. "I swear they've never disciplined us like that—"

"No parent just hits their kid THAT hard for the first time ever—"

"Batavia my parents hit me as a kid it's sort of normal—"

"Has he always hit you this hard—?"

"What h—"

"SHUT UP!" Batavia screamed, looking like she might cry. "Shut up, and let me explain!"

I squeezed George's hand, noticing Bixby was hiding his face so we couldn't see him crying.

Batavia breathed heavily, gulping as though this was the last thing she wanted to talk about.

"The worst my parents ever did was lecture us, sometimes ground us," Batavia said slowly. "They're both big on words in the Ministry— they always thought it got through more than a physical punishment."

"What does—"

"Alicia I love you but if you don't let me talk I will throw myself off the Astronomy Tower!" Batavia hissed angrily, making us all flinch.

Alicia was immediately silent.

"That was background information," Batavia said, breathing heavily. "The real problem is what happened to Cedric."

My heart ached at the mention of his name.

Batavia looked at me, her lip trembling slightly. I hoped it didn't have anything to do with me.

"My mum works in the same department as Mr Diggory," Batavia stated, beginning to pace the room. "When he finally came back to work, he was broken, and she could tell. Their entire Department agreed if he needed to talk about anything they were all for supporting him. However he began being really public about his resentment towards Hogwarts now, and how disappointed he was that Dumbledore had allowed something like this to happen. Everyone listened but no one was sure what to say.

"So my mum made a comment about what Mr Diggory said to my dad during dinner one night. Well my dad is the Department Chair for Auror Curriculum Specialists— so he knows all about that Dark wizard crap. He began to evaluate how it could have happened in the first place and then agreed with Mr Diggory. He took what my mum had shared very seriously and said that a brilliant wizard like Dumbledore should have better background checks for teachers since he keeps bringing in bad people— of course not including Professor Lupin, he was great.

"He started going on a rant about how Quirrel should have been background checked— and how he not even have been allowed to teach because his skittishness made for weakness in teaching such an important subject. He mentioned how Lockhart was clearly incompetent and it was a dumb move to hire anyone famous to begin with because of how divided their attention would be— you remember how Lockhart was constantly answering fan mail. He didn't insult Professor Lupin too much... my dad rather liked him... but he did mention how he never should have hired a werewolf because parents would be afraid of him teaching their kids. He said that information would have eventually come out and it did— which sucked. Then he really went deep into Barty's fraud arse and how he a delusional Auror who had already exhibited signs of madness should never have been allowed children because having seen too much he would have no filter and not know how to limit the details he gave, which happened even though it wasn't the real Moody.

"The thing is my dad became convinced that Dumbledore was lacking enough observation skills and it was his fault that the Tournament got so out of hand. He said Dumbledore was clearly to blame for Cedric's death and for you being placed in the Tournament, and even went as far as to say it's his fault for You Know Who coming back—"

"What?" Angelina shrieked. "But why—?"

"Because Beth had to give blood for the resurrection to work, right?" Bixby mumbled nervously from behind his hands. "If Dumbledore had further checked fake Moody, you'd have never been in the Tournament, and never would have been put in a position to be transported away to complete that ritual. You Know Who couldn't have resurrected even if he came back on a teacher's head again— it wouldn't have happened."

I bit my lip, realizing technically, their dad had a slight point.

"So Bixby and I sat listening the entire time," Batavia said. "And then when he was done ranting, our dad asked if we would mind moving schools. Of course we said yes we would mind and absolutely refused. He insisted it would be safer for us. We said no again and basically throughout this entire summer we've been arguing back and forth trying to convince him it'll do us no good to transfer out of Hogwarts since we have only two more years left here and we have lives here."

We were all silent, until Angelina spoke.

"But what about Bixby's black eye?" She whispered.

Batavia winced and looked at Bixby, who was still covering his face. He shifted to turn away from us, so all we could see was the back of his head.

"Last night my dad locked us in our rooms to stop us from getting on the train," Batavia said. "But Bixby and I managed to get out this morning and we snuck around packing our trunks. We arranged for a Muggle taxi to drive us to the station but we got caught halfway out the window."

Alicia and Angelina both gasped slightly.

"My dad was furious," Batavia continued, wringing her hands together, a tear rolling down her rosy cheeks. "He told us both some awful things so Bixby snapped saying they couldn't stop us from coming back... so my dad punched him."

George and I looked at each other. George furrowed his eyebrows, and narrowed his eyes. Something wasn't adding up.

"Batavia I don't give a damn whether your dad ever hit you as kids," Katie said furiously, her arms crossed. "He PUNCHED Bixby. How can you just—"

"I'm just—"

"Batavia I think you're lying to us about something," Katie said, looking angrier than I'd ever seen her in her life.

Batavia opened her mouth to speak but Bixby smacked her thigh.

George and I looked at each other again. My eyes narrowed this time, and I turned to Batavia, leaning my head to the side ever so slightly, trying to read her body language.

"Your dad HAS hit someone before," I said slowly, making Batavia look up.

"I never said you could read my mind!" She snarled, covering her eyes and scowling.

"I didn't," I said truthfully, looking down at my hands, which were clasped tightly together. "You're giving it all away with how you're talking and standing. Maybe he didn't hit you but... oh Merlin he hit your mum, didn't he?"

Batavia looked at me and I was afraid for a minute that I might be wrong and she might punch me for suggesting it. But then her lip quivered violently and burst into tears, staggering backwards.

"Batavia!" I cried, leaping up.

"No!" She screamed, holding her arm out to push me back. "No— get away from me!"

"Batavia we want to help!" Katie said, standing up and coming beside me.

Batavia looked at us angrily, breathing heavily. Her arms wrapped around her.

Katie and I looked at each other in a sort of silent agreement of the thoughts we had— thoughts that although unshared were likely the same.

Neither of us had ever seen Batavia looking so hurt. Something was more wrong than we though.

Batavia took a deep breath and looked at us.

"Y-You c-can't t-tell anyone," she breathed.

"We'll decide that when you tell us," Lee said sharply, which made Alicia nod in agreement.

Batavia looked like she might not tell us anything after that, but Bixby's cough made her shiver and nod her head slowly.

"M-Mum l-let u-us o-out," Batavia whispered. "S-She n-never a-agreed with m-my dad. S-She k-knew a t-t-transfer would s-set us back, s-she knew w-we wanted to be h-here. S-She was g-going to drive us t-to the s-station b-but my dad c-caught us and he y-yelled and h-h-hit her...."

Angelina and Alicia drew sharp breaths. Katie and I slowly sat down, staring at her in disbelief.

"What else?" Fred asked softly.

"B-Bixby and I l-leapt f-forward t-to g-get him to s-stop b-but m-my dad t-threw me aside and I b-broke a tooth s-so Bixby j-jumped i-in to s-stop him alone a-and.... and..."

She let out a small wail and covered her face, turning away from us.

We all looked around at each other, silently agreeing we couldn't keep this a secret.

"Batavia if this has happened before then you need to say something," I said sharply, trying not to cry with her. "We want to help you."

"H-He'll k-kill us i-if we s-say anything!" She cried, sobbing into her shirt.

At this, Bixby stood up, his eyes red.

"No," he said angrily. "No— he doesn't get to keep us silent anymore."

He breathed deeply.

"You probably never noticed this but Batavia and I don't mention our older sister like— ever," Bixby said, making me realize he was right. "Kesenia hasn't spoken to us in years after what happened."

We were all silent.

"Please don't tell me it is what I think it is," I whispered, a tear rolling down my cheek.

"My father raped our sister," Bixby said, making me let out a small sob clap my hand over my mouth, closing my eyes tightly for a second.

Batavia then let out a wail and used her robes to muffle her crying.

"And he's been hitting our mum for as long as I can remember. Not all the time but often enough— for stupid things too," Bixby said, his jaw tightened. "He never hit us as kids, Batavia wasn't lying about that. But he—he's hurt our mother and Kesenia and I-I refuse to let him do that anymore."

"You need to tell Dumbledore or McGonagall," I spluttered immediately. "W-We don't know how to deal with this..."

Bixby nodded, subconsciously rubbing his eye.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Katie asked softly. "Not even when I stayed at your house..."

"He threatened to kill us," Batavia said hoarsely. "He threatened our mum that he'd kill us if she told and he told us he'd kill our mum if we told."

We all looked around at each other in utter disbelief.

Five bloody years that we'd all known the twins. Five years they had said nothing about their home situation. Five years and we never knew their older sister's name.

"Your dad has to pay for this," Lee said, making Alicia look at him admirably. "I'm sorry, I know he's your dad, but trust me— I know from experience that when he gets tired of hitting just your mum he's going to start hurting you... especially you Batavia."

Batavia looked at him, her eyes wide.

Bixby turned to her and winced, his black eye expanding slightly as he did so.

"You have to do something," I said. "This isn't normal— this isn't supposed to happen. You can't live like this. Think of your mother and sister."

Bixby initially looked mad when I said that, and I was afraid I'd screwed it up. But then he nodded slowly.

"Alright," he said, breathing heavily. "Let's go to McGonagall."

________

After many tears were shed and many letters were sent, Mr Hoganson was arrested by the same Aurors he'd taught for so many years.

The copy of the Daily Prophet that arrived the Monday after revealed the arrest and gave many details against Mr Hoganson. We all made it our business to make sure Bixby and Batavia heard no comments from some of the students.

I couldn't even believe this had happened. After so many years and they'd kept it bottled up until t had escalated too much. Now their father was in Azkaban and their sister was back living with their mother, both of them regularly scheduled to see a therapist.

"I can't believe it," I mumbled as George and I waited for Fred to come downstairs.

"I know," George whispered putting his arm around me.

"They're safer now," I said softly. "He can't hurt them."

"What if this turns him bad?" George said, his brows furrowed. "What if he goes rotten in Azkaban with all those Death Eaters for company?"

"That worries me too," I said. "They all hate Dumbledore— I hope they don't bond over that."

George winced and kissed my forehead. "You're safe," he mumbled. "They're safe. We're going to be fine."

I sighed and leaned into his chest, pulling him in for a proper hug, my ear resting over his heart so I could hear it beating.

"I would never, ever hurt you like that," George said, stroking my hair. "Don't worry about that."

"Would you ever hit our kids?" I asked slowly.

His heart race accelerated instantaneously— it was scary and made me jump.

"Our kids?" George asked nervously, pulling away slightly.

"Yeah," I said, looking up at him. "Remember? I said we'd make cute babies."

"Y-Yeah," George said, blushing. I noticed he looked down and I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, sex is required to make babies," I said bluntly.

"I was not thinking about that," George said sincerely, looking me in the eyes. "I was thinking about something else..."

His eyes traveled down and I noticed his eyes stayed on my stomach. What the heck was his problem?

"Why do you always get so nervous when we talk about marriage and kids?" I inquired slowly.

George's face became beet red. "It's just... so far away."

"We've discussed this," I sighed, exasperated. "It's not that far ahead... I like having plans for things. I have a plan to one day marry you and have kids with you."

George's jaw went slack. I didn't think his face could get redder but it did.

"Y-Yeah, of course," he stammered, pulling away so that we were no longer touching.

"What's wrong, George?" I asked. "Come on— you can tell me."

He hesitated, and that hesitation lasted long enough for Angelina to burst in and run up to us.

"Hi!" She said, an excited grin on her face. "So we'll be needing a new Keeper since Oliver left. Tryouts will be Friday at five o'clock— I want the whole team there, all right? Then we can see how the new person'll fit in."

"Gotcha," I said, looking intently at George.

"Yeah," he said again, nodding. Angelina smiled and left.

"You were saying?" I asked silkily, turning back to him.

"I—" George began, his mouth open.

"Good morning lovely people!"

I groaned internally as Fred came downstairs. Screw his timing!

So of course George didn't end up telling me shit, which kind of got me annoyed.

Fred, George, and I had an unusually silent journey to the Great Hall. Fred seemed happy and didn't notice anything, but I could tell George was holding back a comment of sorts. What was his deal?

"Look at today!" Ron said as we walked up behind him. "History of Magic, double Potions, Divination, and double Defence Against the Dark Arts! Binns, Snape, Trelawney, and that Umbridge woman all in one day! I wish Fred and George would hurry up and get those Skiving Snackboxes sorted..."

"Do mine ears deceive me?" Fred asked, leaning over between Harry and Ron. "Hogwarts prefects surely don't wish to skive off lessons?"

"Look what we've got today!" Ron groaned, holding up his schedule. "That's the worst Monday I've ever seen."

"Tell me about it," I said, looking at him pitifully. "God I feel for you..."

"Fair point, little bro," George said, the redness in his face having died down fully. "You can have a bit of Nosebleed Nougat cheap if you like."

"Why cheap?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Because you'll keep bleeding till you shrivel up, we haven't got an antidote yet," Fred said, smirking.

"Cheers," Ron mumbled. "But I think I'll take the lesson."

"Speaking of Skiving Snackboxes," Hermione said, turning to face us, "you can't advertise for testers on the Gryffindor notice board."

Fred looked at Harry and I, who shrugged.

"Says who?" George asked, leaning on Fred.

"Says me, and Ron," Hermione said.

"Leave me out of it," Ron said quickly. The twins sniggered.

"You'll be singing a different tune soon enough, Hermione," Fred said. "You're starting your fifth year, you'll be begging us for a Snackbox before long."

"And why would starting fifth year mean I want a Skiving Snackbox?" Hermione asked, sounding annoyed.

"Fifth year is OWL year," George said.

"So?" Hermione asked.

"So you've got exams coming up, haven't you?" Fred said. "They'll be be keeping your noses so hard to that grindstone they'll be rubbed raw."

"Half our year had minor breakdowns coming up to OWLS," George said. "Tears and tantrums... Patricia Simpson kept coming over faint..."

"Kenneth Towler came out in boils, d'you remember?" Fred asked.

"That's cause you put Bulbadox Powder in his pajamas," George said.

"Oh yeah I'd forgotten," Fred said with a smirk. "I'd forgotten... hard to keep track sometimes, isn't it?"

"Anyway it's a nightmare of a year, the fifth!" George said. "If you care about exam results anyway. Fred and I managed to keep our spirits up somehow."

"Yeah... you got, what was it, three OWLS each?" Ron asked.

"Yep," Fred said.

"Well Beth got about ten, didn't she?" Hermione said. "So I should be fine if she was."

"You'll be fine," I reassured her. "It's stressful but if I could take two OWLs as a third year and get Os you'll live."

"Ah whatever," Fred said. "Only matters if you care about your future academically. Georgr and I— we feel our futures lie outside the world of academic achievement."

"We seriously debated whether we were going to bother coming back for our seventh year," George said. "Now that we've got—"

He looked at me and I quickly and shut up.

"—now that we've got our OWLs," he finished quickly. I knew he meant now they had money for the joke shop they'd been dreaming of for years. "I mean, do we really need NEWTs? But we didn't think Mum could take us leaving school early, not on top of Percy turning out to be the world's biggest prat. And I couldn't leave Beth behind..."

I didn't smile as he put his arm around me, which made Harry look at me strangely and blink three times.

" _Why so stiff?" He inquired. "Did something happen?"_

_"Nah I'm just waiting for him to tell me why he's so nervous whenever we discuss a specific topic," I thought back._

_"That topic better not be what I think it is because I say you better not—"_

_"It's not. Trust me_."

"We're not going to waste our last year here, though," Fred said, making me tune back to the real world. "We're going to use it to do a bit of market research, find our exactly what the average Hogwarts student requires from his joke shop, carefully evaluate the results, then produce products that fit the demand."

"But where are you going to get the gold to start a joke shop?" Hermione asked. "You're going to need all the ingredients and materials— and premises too, I suppose..."

I awkwardly looked away, hoping I didn't look suspicious.

"Ask us no questions and we will tell you no lies, Hermione," Fred said. "C'mon George, if we get there early we might sell some Extendable Ears before Herbology."

I smiled innocently at Hermione before picking up an entire bowl of bread rolls and holding them in my arms for the twins to take as we walked out of the Great Hall.

"Delicious," Fred said as he bit into one. "Well, see you later Beth."

"Bye," I said as he began to head over to Herbology. I looked up at George expectantly.

"I-I'll tell you later," George said hastily.

"You can trust me, you know," I said.

"I know."

"Well you don't seem to know," I said. "I'm not going to judge you for having opinions. I know now everyone likes talking about marriage. I'd just like to know why you get SO bloody nervous about it. Like I said, tell me and I'll just never mention it again."

"It's just— nevermind."

"George!"

"Not right now," he said, turning red all over again. "L-Later."

"You said that about the mirror thing."

"I-I'll tell you that later."

"One. Two. Three. It's later. Hello."

George laughed lightly, reddening even more.

"George it's been nearly four bloody years," I said. "Just tell me."

George opened his mouth but the bell rang.

"Saved by the bell," he said sheepishly, taking a roll.

"Oh screw you and always getting conveniently saved from explaining things to me!" I hissed.

"What do you mean?" He inquired.

"It happened this morning and it happened right after we visited the mirror," I said, a memory resurfacing. I concentrated and sent the memory into his mind, from the day when Norbert the dragon had been born in Hagrid's hut.

_"Heard you turned into a dragon," George said._

_"I'm going to bite Bixby," I said with a growl, glaring at the sleeping boy next to me._

_"I bet you looked ugly," George said._

_"You're always ugly," I said. "That's why I try to make you invisible as often as possible."_

_George put a hand to his chest and laughed lightly._

_"Did I hit a nerve?" He asked._

_"I don't have nerves I'm not human," I said with a cheeky grin, fiddling with my fingers._

_"Your Muggle boy is going to flip out when he finds out all the shit you can do," George said with a laugh._

_I shrugged and looked at the fire thoughtfully. "I dunno if I'll ever tell him. I don't really fancy him anymore."_

_"Really?" George asked, appearing very interested._

_"Yeah," I said. "The constant mentioning of his existence got me thinking. I don't fancy him as much as I fancy someone else, apparently._

_"Ah," George said. "Poor Muggle boy."_

_"He's not at any loss," I said. "He vaguely remembers me as the strange girl who never leaves her house. He thinks I've never been outside."_

_"Maybe you should be put under house arrest," George said. "Everytime you go outside you're bouncing off walls that aren't even there."_

_"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked quizzically._

_"Just that you're really energetic," George said._

_He went silent, looking straight at me._

_"Do you want to know what else I saw in the mirror?" He asked._

_"Duh," I said, looking intently at him, forcing myself not to read his mind._

_George took a deep breath, and looked back at me. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Harry, Hermione, and Neville Longbottom burst in._

_"What happened?" I cried._

_"We got caught," Harry said angrily. "Each got fifty points taken away. I'm going to bed."_

_Without another word he stormed upstairs, followed by Neville, and a very distressed looking Hermione._

_"Oh man," I mumbled. I shook my head and winced, turning back to George. "What were you going to say?"_

_"Nothing," George said, smiling at me. "Nothing at all."_   
  


George's POV  
  


I stared at Beth blankly. How the bloody hell could she remember that so vividly? It was three whole years ago!

"Damn your memory is very scarily accurate..." I mumbled as I bit into the roll I'd gotten.

I remembered that day too, for the most part. Quite honestly, I was going to tell her. I mean, we were thirteen. I thought perhaps I might say 'yeah I saw you in the mirror as my very pregnant wife, silly huh?' I assumed perhaps we might have laughed it off.

But then Harry and Ron and their crew had interrupted and I'd reevaluated my decision— no, I should not tell her, because she was brilliant and would figure that if I'd seen that it was a deep desire of mine and that could have made things awkward.

So of course I didn't tell her, and I still haven't told her.

"You always get saved by some interruption," she sighed, sounding aggravated. "It's annoying."

I grinned sheepishly. "God knows it's not the right time for you to know."

Beth growled lightly but then half smiled. "Will you tell me eventually?" She asked.

Feeling my cheeks on fire, I nodded. "Yeah. Eventually."

I leaned forward and pecked her lips. "See you later," I said before waving and running down the hall so I wouldn't be late to class.  
  


Elizabeth's POV  
  


"Well, good afternoon!" Professor Umbridge said in a cheery voice once everyone had sat down. Some people replied but most didn't.

"Tut tut, THAT won't do, will it?" Umbridge said. "I should like you to please reply, Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge. One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"

Batavia pulled at her face as we all chanted back what she'd told us.

"There now!" Umbridge trilled happily. "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please."

I looked at Batavia in disbelief. Wands away? What did we need quills for?

Umbridge walked up to the blackboard and tapped it— the words "Defense Against the Dark Arts— a Return to Basic Principles" appearing.

"She's joking!" I heard Bixby hiss to Katie.

"Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" Professor Umbridge began. "A constant changing of teachers, many of whom don't seem to have followed the Ministry approved curriculum. It seems you're all far below the standard we would expect to see in your sixth year.

"You will be pleased to know that these problems are now rectified. We'll be following a carefully structured, theory centered, Ministry approved course of defensive magic. Copy the following, please."

She tapped the blackboard again, and three aims appeared. I reluctantly copied it down, glaring at Umbridge.

"Now, has everybody got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?" She asked. Most of the class mumbled a faint "yes."

"I think we'll try that again," Umbridge said with a strained voice. "When I ask you a question, I should like you to reply 'Yes, Professor Umbridge,' or 'No, Professor Umbridge.' Again— has everyone got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

"Yes, Professor Umbridge," I said through gritted teeth with the rest of the class.

"Good!" She said. "I should like you to turn to page five and read chapter one, Basics for Beginners. There will be no need to talk."

I grumbled and rolled my eyes.

I began to read a bit, but then decided it was stupid and thrust my hand into the air.

"Do you have a question about the chapter, dear?" Umbridge asked.

"Not about the chapter, no," I said bluntly.

"Well we're reading now," Umbridge said. "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

"I've got a query about your course aims," I said. Umbridge looked at me, almost as if she was infuriated.

"Well Miss Potter, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read through them carefully," she said.

"Oh I did," I said sharply. "What I want to know is why there is nothing written up there about using defensive spells."

The whole class went dead silent, and I swear every head in the room turned to look at the course aims.

"Using defensive spells?" Umbridge asked with a little laugh. "Why I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a defensive spell, Miss Potter. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

"Surely the whole point of this class is to practice defensive spells," I said. "Doesn't matter when we're going to be attacked— the fact that it can potentially happen is reason enough to learn, don't you think?"

Umbridge's eye twitched.

"Are you a Ministry trained educational expert, Miss Potter?" Umbridge asked, clearly annoyed.

"Of course not, but—"

"Well them, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is," she said. "Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk free way!"

She crossed her arms and looked around at the class.

"I do not wish to criticize the way things have been run in this school," she said, with a tense smile. "But you have been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible indeed— not to mention, extremely dangerous half breeds."

"Excuse me?" I snapped, making everyone look at me. "Do you mean Professor Lupin? Because that's my godfather you're talking about."

"He was the best we ever had," Ravenclaw Giselle Forbes said, making me smile at her.

"Students raise their hands when they wish to speak," Umbridge said. "Miss—?"

"Forbes," Giselle said icily.

Umbridge merely pursed her lips.

"As I was saying, you have been introduced to spells that have been complex, inappropriate for your age group, and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet Dark attacks every other day—"

"No we haven't!" Bixby said, slapping the desk. "We just—"

"Your hand is not up, Mr—?"

"Hoganson!" Bixby spat angrily, looking down as several heads turned in his direction.

"Hoganson," Umbridge repeated. She then shook her head and looked at us again. "It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses in front of you, he actually performed them ON you—"

"Well he turned out to be a maniac, didn't he?" I snarled. "Mind you, I think we still learned LOADS from him—"

"Your hand is not up, Miss Potter!" Umbridge said. "Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more sufficient to get you through life after Hogwarts—"

"Personally," I said scathingly, "I think THIS type of school is for preparing us for the real world which is, unless I am mistaken, FULL of using defensive spells."

"Miss Potter, your HAND!" Umbridge said, glaring at me. "as long as you have studied the theory hard enough—"

"And what good is theory going to be in the real world?" I asked.

"This is a school, Miss Potter, not the real world!" Umbridge said, softly but dangerously.

"So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting out there?" I snapped. "Because what's out there isn't going to ask us if we know the theory behind how to defend ourselves before attacking us."

This was greeted with nervous laughter from my peers.

Umbridge, however, gave a little mirthless high pitched laugh. "There is nothing waiting out there, Miss Potter."

"Sure," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?" Umbridge asked.

"Hmm, let's think," I said furiously, "maybe Lord Voldemort?"

The entire class went dead silent, with a few little screams and gasps added in.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Potter," Umbridge said softly. "Now let me make a few things quite plain."

She stood up and leaned forward on her desk. "You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead—"

"He was never dead to begin with," I spat. "But yeah, he's returned!"

"Another ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Potter!" Umbridge hissed. "As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. THIS. IS. A. LIE."

"It is NOT a lie!" I cried. "I saw him, I fought him!"

"Detention, Miss Potter!" Umbridge said. "Tomorrow evening, five o'clock, my office. I repeat, this is a lie! The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you are not in danger from any Dark wizard. If you are still worried, by all means come and see me OUTSIDE class hours. If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am your friend. And now, you will kindly continue your reading. Page five, Basics for Beginners."

"So my best friend dropped dead of his own accord?" I snarled.

I heard some of the Hufflepuff students whisper urgently. Batavia tensed up beside me.

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident!" Umbridge spat.

"It was murder!" I yelled, standing up. "Voldemort had him killed and you know it! I saw it with my own two eyes! I watched my best friend be killed by the same person who got my parents killed!"

Umbridge stared at him blankly, her jaw twitching. "Come here, Miss Potter, dear."

I kicked his chair aside and walked up to her. She scribbled on some parchment and handed it to me.

"Take this to Professor McGonagall, dear," she said sweetly.

I growled as I snatched the parchment out of her hand and stormed out of the class.

I cursed all the way to McGonagall's office. When she read the note she sighed and offered me a biscuit.

"Excuse me?" I asked, taken aback.

"Have a biscuit, Potter," she said, offering me the tray.

"I'm good thanks," I said.

She took her glasses off and set them on the table, looking at me. "You cannot lose your temper in Dolores Umbridge's class. I know what she said hit you hard. I know it. And I know she's wrong. But you cannot argue against her. It isn't going to get you anywhere good."

"I can't just sit there and let her talk about how my best friend died in some tragic accident when he was actually murdered!" I cried.

"But you must!" McGonagall said sharply. "Dolores Umbridge is not a person to be messed with!"

I scowled and shoved a biscuit into my mouth. McGonagall sighed and put her glasses back on.

"Be careful around her, Elizabeth," she said softly. "That woman did not come in here to do anything good, I assure you that."


	52. Chapter 52

"What annoys me," I said, "is how no one believes me thanks to the stupid Ministry."

"Well," Katie said, wincing, "we believe you."

"I know," I said quickly. "And I appreciate it. But two months ago it seemed the whole school believed the story when Dumbledore told them..."

"Quite honestly Beth," Hermione said, looking up from her homework, "I don't think they ever did."

"What— do you mean you're not sure they believed Dumbledore?" Harry asked her, setting his quill down and joining the conversation.

"Well one minute you're in the maze," Hermione said, biting her lip, "and the next you're back with Cedric's dead body! Sure Dumbledore told them what happened right before they left but before the truth could sink in they went on holiday and have been spending two months reading about how you're a nutcase and Dumbledore is going senile!"

"I AM a nutcase but not in this situation," I said bluntly.

"You're a nutcase when you WANT to be," Batavia said.

Hermione let out a snarl, making Batavia and I jump.

"You okay?" George inquired, looking up from his homework.

"HOW can Dumbledore let this happen?" Hermione cried, making Addy fly off her lap and come to mine. She purred and gave a slight hiss and curled up on my lap. "How can he let that terrible woman teach us? And in our OWL year too!"

"Honestly we've never had great teachers for that subject to begin with," I said.

"She's an ass," Bixby said. "And I would never insult a woman unless she deserved it."

"She won't last long," Fred said. "We needn't worry."

"Why do you say that?" Harry asked.

"Well the job's jinxed," George said, catching onto Fred's drift. "No one lasts more than a year."

"Wonder how long THAT'S going to last," Lee huffed, putting his book down.

"Reckon this will be around when our kids come here?" I asked George with a smirk.

The others let out 'oohs' for some reason, probably because they thought it was sappy for me to say. But George just blushed.

"Oh nevermind," I exasperated, shaking my head. George winced.

"Did you hear Umbridge is also trying to get people to spy for her?" Ron said, making us all turn to him. "Remember when she said she wanted us to come and tell her if we hear anyone saying You Know Who's back? She's a Ministry spy!"

"Probably," I said, sighing.

After that Hermione turned, quite annoyed, back to her homework. The twins and Lee then got up when several first years came over to answer their request for testers, which entertained Batavia, Bixby, Katie, and I for awhile until I turned and notice Hermione staring at us, angrily, her jaw slack. I slowly walked over to her and she narrowed her eyes at me.

"No, I'm sorry, Beth," she hissed. "They've gone too far! Come on, Ron."

"I— what?" Ron said, his eyes wide. "No— come on, Hermione— we can't tell them off for giving out sweets..."

"You know perfectly well that those are bits of Nosebleed Nougat or— or Puking Pastilles or—"

"Fainting Fancies," I stated just as the first years began to slump unconsciously into their seats— some sliding completely onto the floor and others hanging from their chair in an odd position. Hermione snarled and got up, marching directly to them, while Ron murmured "she's got it under control."

I hurried back just as she arrived, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at George.

"That's enough!" She said firmly.

"Yeah you're right," George said, scratching the back of his head. "This dosage looks strong enough, doesn't it?"

I snickered, but Hermione simply became more furious.

"I told you this morning, you can't test your rubbish on students!" Hermione hissed.

"We're paying them!" Fred cried indignantly.

"I don't care it could be dangerous!" Hermione fumed.

"Oh come on Hermione," I said. "That's rubbish."

"See, Hermione, they're fine!" Lee said, popping a purple sweet into the open mouths of the first years. One by one they woke up as if nothing had happened.

"Feel all right?" George asked a little dark haired girl on the floor.

"I think so," she said in a shaky voice, rubbing her head. She blinked a few times and then got up just fine.

"Excellent!" Fred said, beginning to take note on his clipboard. Hermione snatched it away and also took a bag of Fainting Fancies, to which Hermione said "It is NOT excellent!"

"Course it is, they're alive, aren't they?" George said angrily, rolling his eyes.

"You can't do this, what if you made one of them really ill?" Hermione asked.

"We're not going to make them ill, we've already tested them all on ourselves, this is just to see if everyone reacts the same—"

"If you don't stop doing it, I'm going to— "

"Put is in detention?" Fred challenged her.

"Make us write lines?" George asked with a grin, smirking at me. Hermione glared at them powerfully, hands crossed over her chest.

"No, but I will write to your mother."

"You wouldn't," George said, stepping back away from her, holding up a cross with his fingers, as if he was warding away a demon.

"Oh yes I would!" She said. "I can't stop you eating the stupid things yourselves, but you're not giving them to first years!"

Fred and George mumbled some curses under their breath and stalked away.

"It's not that serious, Hermione," I said, a bit annoyed.

"Beth you KNOW they shouldn't be doing that!" She cried.

"They aren't hurting anyone," I argued. "They have the participants' WRITTEN consent and they told them all the possible side effects. AND they're paying them!"

"I don't care—"

"Well you should because ethically there is NOTHING wrong with it—"

"You're their best friend don't let them—"

"I support them fully!"

Hermione growled. "Well you shouldn't. Not when they're doing that."

"When I decide it's dangerous, I'll tell them," I said coldly.

Hermione rolled her eyes and walked back to the couch, shouting "Thanks for your support, Ron!" in a bitter voice.

"She really thought you'd tell them to stop?" Bixby asked with a smile. "You're their biggest fan."

"Exactly," I said, grinning.

Batavia looked at me suddenly. "Hey Beth I want to talk to you. Come, Katie."

"What about?" I asked as Batavia and Katie began walking upstairs.

"Just come on!" Batavia said.

Sighing, I trotted after them.

The instant we got into our dorm, we found Leanne (our other dorm mate) was asleep already. Batavia pulled us to her bed and sat us down.

"You know how you mentioned George gets really nervous whenever you mention marriage and kids?" Batavia asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"Well," Batavia said, looking between Katie and I. "I think he wants to have sex with you."

"I know he does," I said. "But we established we won't yet."

"Do YOU want to?" Katie asked excitedly.

I felt my cheeks burn.

"You do!" Katie squealed. "Why— why are you waiting?"

"Because there's more to relationships than just sex!" I said. "I don't want to be my mother— I don't want to get pregnant in school!"

Batavia looked at me quizzically. "What DO you have against your mother?"

"Nothing," I said. "I just hate being compared to her. I'm my own person, I want to make my own story. People keep comparing me to her because I look like her."

"Ah," Katie and Batavia said in unison, going silent for a moment after.

"Bloody hell does everyone assume that just because I say I don't want to be like my mother that I hated her?" I said, rolling my eyes. "How could I hate the woman that gave her life for me? That would mean sinking down to Voldemort's level."

At this, Katie winced and Batavia looked down.

"You'll be needing to get used to me saying his name," I said bluntly. "Okay?"

"Yeah," Batavia answered quickly as Katie nodded.

"Back to what we were saying," Katie started.

"Personally," I said, laying back on the bed, "I don't think he gets nervous about marriage because he wants to... do it. I feel it's something different."

"Can't you just read his mind?" Batavia whined.

"I don't like reading my friends' minds," I said. "It's a violation of the privacy they're entitled to. And with George it's different, I have only ever read his mind once when he needed me to summon some of his experiments into my hands when his mother tried to take them away. He, most of all, gets to keep his thoughts private. What if I spoil a surprise for myself? Or find out something awful and can't confront him about it? Reading people's minds is imposing my power and extracting their secrets and I don't like doing that. I'd be breaking their trust. And I don't want to do that."

Katie bit her lip. "Tell me, honestly, will you be glad if one day you don't have powers anymore?"

"Yes," I said immediately. "Ginny and Hermione brought up good points in the summer about it all. It will be an inconvenience at first, and it'll take a lot of getting used to, but in the end I won't have to deal with all the attention or exhaustion, I will be able to be normal and get a job because of my natural skill rather than my powers. And plus... if I kept my powers I couldn't die. I would never be able to grow old with George."

Batavia sighed, looking at me. "That's so cute."

"Oh you're just a sucker for sappy love stories, and I'm not giving you one," I said.

"Well you've had the most interesting one, forgive us for being intrigued!" Katie said. "I mean, I just had Vance before Bixby admitted he liked me through a kiss. It wasn't complicated, it just happened and we haven't had any major problems. Little fights every now and then but nothing serious."

"And Oliver and I happened and has been happening for so long everything has been worked out," Batavia said. "Little fights sometimes, some awkwardness after what happened at the Yule Ball, him apologizing for what he did in a proper way and promising that it will not happen again until I'm ready. Then Fred and Angelina were just meant to be. Lee and Alicia have been flirting endlessly for years but neither wants to admit to the other that they like each other— our love lives have been strangely simple. Your relationship is the only representation of what reality should be like as an example for us."

"So George and I are the example of what can happen in order to teach you dimwits how to avoid it," I deduced, smirking as Batavia and Katie shrugged and nodded with equally big smiles on their faces.

"Glad to be the guinea pig then," I said.

"Have you ever ACTUALLY shapeshifted into a guinea pig—?"

"No and I don't plan to."

This earned me two loud laughs and a groan from Leanne, who had woken up from how loud we were.

________

"Where IS Hagrid?" Bixby asked in horror when we saw that Professor Grubbly Plank was still teaching our Care of Magical Creatures class the next day. "Is he DEAD?"

"Oh my GOD don't say that," Batavia said, covering her face.

"Hermione has a theory," I said. "She thinks—"

"Miss Potter!" Grubbly Plank said. "Can you tell me what this is and give me a description of its habits?"

She held up a creature I was all too familiar with.

"A bowtruckle," I said. "They usually live in wand trees and are known as tree guardians. They eat wood lice for the most part but do enjoy fairy eggs occasionally when they can get to them."

Grubbly Plank clearly seemed surprised, because she thought I wasn't paying attention.

"Very good," she said, nodding. "Ten points to Gryffindor."

When she started handing out bowtruckles for us to draw, I turned back to the twins.

"Hermione reckons that he could be doing a mission for Dumbledore," I whispered.

Batavia nodded, and stayed silent as Grubbly Plank handed Bixby a bowtruckle.

Bixby sighed and took the bowtruckle, smiling like an idiot as he patted its head.

"Hi," he said in a baby voice to it. "Hi! Hi buddy... you're my buddy, huh?" The bowtruckle trilled happily, as if it was saying 'yes.' "You ARE my buddy!" Bixby said. "You're so sweet... we'll call you Xavier."

"Can you please stop cooing at that bowtruckle and hand it over?" Batavia asked, scrunching up her nose.

"We'll give you to nice Beth, huh, Xavier?" Bixby said, handing Xavier to me. "Not mean old Batty—"

Batavia smacked him with her clipboard and I laughed, taking Xavier as he trilled, stretching his little arms toward Bixby.

"He wants to go with Bixby," I said. Xavier trilled and nodded.

Batavia rolled her eyes as I handed the bowtruckle back to her brother. I began to draw it, and Batavia resorted to copying what I did.

Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and saw the Ravenclaw girl from the carriages— Luna Lovegood.

"Hey!" I said. "Whatcha doing here?"

"Ooh," she said, observing the bowtruckle. "I came to deliver a message from Professor McGonagall. Isn't he sweet?"

"He is," Bixby said immediately, patting Xavier's head.

Luna turned straight to me with the widest grin on her face. "I believe He Who Must Not Be Named is back, and I believe you fought him and escaped from him!"

"Thank you," I said, beaming at her. "I needed that."

Behind me, some Slytherins snickered.

"You can laugh!" Luna said. "But people used to believe there was no such things as the Blubbering Humdinger or the Crumple Horned Snorkack!"

"Those are real," Bixby said, smirking. "I've seen them in America."

"Really?" Luna asked, her eyes wide. "Oooh! I need to tell Daddy to go to America!"

Then she skipped away happily, which is when I noticed she wasn't wearing shoes.

"Those aren't actually real are they?" I whispered, slightly confused.

"Yeah they are," Bixby said. "But we only got to seem them cause... well father had some ties with MACUSA."

Batavia looked down at the mention of their father.

Bixby and I both frowned and rubbed her back instinctively.

After class I was stopped by a boy in Harry's year named Ernie Macmillan— a Hufflepuff.

"Elizabeth!" He called, making me turn around.

"Hello," I said, looking anxiously at Bixby and Batavia.

"I'm Ernie Macmillan," he said, thrusting his hand out for me to shake. "I know your brother."

"A lot of people know my brother," I said awkwardly, shaking his hand.

"Of course," he said, chuckling. "We're not friends but we have an understanding. Listen, I want you to know it's not only the weirdos that support you. I personally believe you one hundred percent. My family has always stood firm behind Dumbledore, and so do I."

"If by weirdos you mean Luna Lovegood then I'll be saying thank you and leaving," I said, turning on my heel.

"I'm sorry," Ernie said quickly, running so he was in front of me. "Didn't mean that— she's great, truly..."

"Thank you, at any rate," I said, shrugging and smiling slightly at him before departing from Bixby and Batavia and heading to Potions.

When I walked in, George was happily patting the seat beside him.

"Hi," I said, smirking. Seeing the empty seat next to him made my heart ache. Cedric had been my assigned partner last year. The sight of the only other empty seat being near the front made my chest tighten too. Cedric should be sitting there.

"Hey," George said happily, pulling me in for a kiss.

"Hi," I said again. "So apparently Blubbering Humdingers and Crumple Horned Snorkacks exist in America, there are several people supporting me amongst the haters, and I've only just realized that the reason we have an empty seat in the class is because Cedric is gone. I hadn't noticed it before since I always arrived so early."

George's expression dropped, and he pulled me closer to him, putting his hands on my shoulders and massaging them. "I dunno what to say about the... Blubbering Hummers or Crumple Horned Snorklers—"

I laughed, and wiped the tears forming in my eyes.

"But I know to say that of COURSE people support you," George said. "They know you're telling the truth. Listen, a select few ARE idiots but I think they'll get over it soon. And Cedric is here. He is. You just need to close your eyes so you can feel him."

Tears were rolling down my cheeks when he said that last bit, and I quickly wiped them on my cardigan.

"I think your Skivving Snackboxes should include a happiness sweet," I said in a soft voice. "Other students could use them."

George kissed my forehead and cupped my face in his hands. "You haven't cried lately," he said. "How about we schedule one in for later?"

"We schedule cries now?" I asked quizzically, laughing as I felt the remaining tears plastering themselves on my cheeks.

"If it helps, yes," he said. "I'll hold you and cry about... how Hermione keeps threatening to write to Mum about the Skivving Snackboxes."

"Collective crying," I laughed. "It's not 'I cry.' It's 'we cry.'"

"You know what that means," he said, winking.

"We are sad," I said, sighing as Snape entered the classroom.

"I love you," George said, using his sweater to finish wiping the tears off my face.

"I love you too," I whispered, pulling him in for a kiss.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for using class time to kiss, Mr Weasley," Snape hissed before standing at the front.

"Darn," I sighed, pulling my chair away. "Grubbly Plank just gave me ten points for knowing about bowtruckles..."

"I like how he blamed me for it when YOU kissed me," George said, smirking. "Favoritism, if you ask me."

"Honestly it's probably because my mum was his friend in school," I said. "And I am, as many say, the spitting image of her."

"No offense to your mum but you're a lot prettier," George said.

I blushed and was about to respond when I was greeted by a loud smacking sound, seeing Snape had come from behind us and whacked George on the head with a potions book.

"Another ten points for not paying attention, Weasley!" Snape hissed.

"Which Weasley?" I teased innocently, looking up at Snape. George's mouth was wide open.

"Five points for cheek, Miss Potter," Snape snapped before going to the front of the class.

"That was funny," I said happily, turning to see George still looked shocked. "What?"

"Just a bit— nevermind."

"Yes, George," I exasperated, "I want to marry you. Hope it isn't a problem if I take your last name too?"

George blankly turned to the front, blushing crimson.

"So why DO you get nervous talking about marriage?" I asked as I began to make the potion I saw Snape had written up on the board.

"Well it's such a big step," he said bluntly. "I take things REALLY slowly. It just seems so... far away. Even though I know it isn't."

He blushed again, and looked away from me.

"Well I don't think you're telling me the ENTIRE truth but that'll have to do for now," I said. "Now what about the having kids bit? You get nervous with that too?"

George was so red it seemed like he'd become a Gryffindor banner.

"S-Same reason," he said shyly.

"Okay," I sighed. "Not trying to be rude but it's just so bloody weird with you getting all blushy all the time. I thought I was supposed to do that."

"Alright, well, I may or may not have been threatened by my parents at the end of last term that I better not knock you up anytime soon."

"So you're just worried?"

"Basically."

"I'm not going to LET YOU knock me up," I said indifferently. "Besides it wouldn't even be just your fault, it'd be mine too—"

"My parents wouldn't kill you over it."

"Well, true."

At this we both let out a laugh.

"Well, thanks for telling me," I said. "I hope I wasn't too pushy— it's just so weird not knowing why you get so weird about it."

"I'm more sensitive now," he said with a shrug. "You changed me."

"Is that good or bad?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"excellent," he said, kissing me again.

"Ten points, Mr Weasley!"

_______

At dinner, Angelina had yelled at me for getting detention on the day of the Keeper tryouts. I don't think I've ever seen her so angry at anyone.

"You know what?" Harry had said when I say down, rubbing my ear, "I think we'd better check with Puddlemere United whether Oliver Wood's been killed during a training session, because she seems to be channeling his spirit."

Later that evening, I'd wondered what the detention might be like.

"Honestly she might just have you polish those stupid cat plates she has in her office," George said as I did homework. He was reading a book— or at least trying to.

"Probably," I said. "George you're not ACTUALLY reading."

"Am too!"

"This is why they say don't try and read a school book on your bed or in the presence of friends, it's distracting and makes you sleepy because the brain associates your bed with sleeping."

"Can you stop being smart for two seconds, please?" George groaned.

I laughed and leaned over to look at his book. "Okay, I swear you were on that page when I did my charms essay AN HOUR AGO."

"Really trying to capture all the information, you know," he said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm teaching myself to have a photographic memory?" He asked innocently.

I raised my eyebrow higher.

"Fuck it," he said, snapping the book shut. "I'd rather talk to you than read a silly old book."

"You were assigned the whole book two months ago and you barely started it today. It's due TOMORROW."

"Oh but you've read this— can't you tell me what happens?" He asked sweetly.

"Oh fine," I sighed, putting down my essay. "Honestly I dunno why you bothered to join Ancient Runes in your last year. I TOLD YOU it wasn't fun to try and read these idiotic books that don't even have a plot."

"See? I wouldn't have read it even if I could understand what it was saying."

I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"Okay so in this one— it's about a princess," I said. "And she's pretty tired of being an only child so she argues with her parents about it—"

"Oh God she can HAVE my siblings," George said.

I laughed and smacked him lightly. "Let me talk!"

"Nah," George said, kissing my cheek. "Let's not talk. Let's snog."

"But homework—"

"— yours isn't due tomorrow—"

"But YOURS is—"

"When have I ever cared?"

"But MY homework—"

"If tomorrow's not the due date, today is not the do date..."

I burst out laughing, and he playfully kissed my cheek again, wrapping his arms around me.

"You're a horrible influence," I giggled as he kissed me repeatedly.

"Thank you, milady," he said before climbing on top of me and cupping my face in his hands, slipping his tongue into my mouth.

I groaned and held the back of his neck, breathing deeply as I pulled him close to me. He smelled heavenly, and as my hands trailed down his back I could feel his muscles contracting with every breath he took. He pressed himself so tightly onto me I felt his heart thumping hard in his chest. His hands snaked down to my waist, massaging my hips. I wrapped my legs around his waist and held him closer.

His hands then went under my shirt. I gasped a bit as his warm hands touched my rather cold stomach. He trailed them up slightly and I didn't object, a part of me wanting to continue fully.

When I felt him start to undo the buttons of my shirt I felt my heart leap in my chest, but I didn't want to say anything.

So instead, my hands moved swiftly to his shirt and began unbuttoning it too, freeing him of it right after he took my shirt off.

I groaned as he trailed kisses down my jaw and to my neck, gasping as he chose a spot and sucked on it. I held his head in my hands, biting my lip hard. I wanted this to continue but I knew it probably shouldn't.

Then George's hands went to my skirt, and he yanked it down.

That's when I pushed him off, panting.

"I-I'm sorry," I said, putting my shirt back on and pulling my skirt up quickly. "Holy crap I WANT TO, George, but not yet."

George looked mortified. "I am s-so so sorry," he stammered. "I don't know what got into me."

"Me neither," I said softly. "Trust me I didn't want to stop— I didn't— but we can't... we can't... not yet."

He nodded, pulling away and clearing his throat.

"I um... want our first time to be more special," he said shyly.

"Me too," I whispered. "I'm sorry—"

"You don't need to apologize," he said quickly. "I should have controlled myself. And I didn't. So I'm sorry."

I smiled slightly at him. "Er—"

I couldn't even remember what I planned to say. He looked so good without a shirt.

"Um," I said, looking away. "So about the book..."  
  


A/N: Some of ya'll wanted it spiced up a bit. Is that good or do you want more? ;)


	53. Chapter 53

"I think another night's detention will suffice."

I glared daggers at Umbridge. I'd already been enduring this torture for four nights, and yet she wanted a fifth. Tomorrow, Friday, would be the Keeper tryouts. So now, not only was Angelina going to slaughter me, but I was probably going to lose all feeling in my hand.

The words were striking. 'I must not tell lies' was written across the back of my hand in my unfortunately too neat handwriting.

The phrase gleamed strangely glossy among a mass of broken and dead skin, pink across the edges and a brilliant red where all the blood had begun to clot. This would leave a magnificent scar that I perhaps would never be able to get rid of.

I swear I could see my tendons and bones.

I covered my hand and exited her classroom, not wanting to snap back.

I felt stupid— and weak. I felt stupid for not trying to fight back. And weak because I was afraid to.

Umbridge hadn't really scared me at first. Now, she sort of did. I was afraid of her, and how she so skillfully had made me hurt myself and left me with no choice.

She threatened to drag my brother in if I told anyone, and even stated that Fudge gave her permission to use the quills.

Unfortunately when I seeped into her mind, I learned she in fact was not lying.

There was nothing to be done. If I wanted Harry to be safe I had to keep my mouth shut.

I shoved my good hand into my pocket and pulled out a cloth, wrapping it tightly around the back of my hand. The cloth quickly filled with blood, and I sighed hopelessly.

I stopped for a minute, leaning back against the wall, tears forming in my eyes.

I felt broken. And Elizabeth Potter couldn't afford to feel broken.

"It's alright. It will be alright."

I opened my eyes and craned my neck to see the Fat Friar, Hufflepuff's ghost.

"Hi," I said, covering my hand.

"I can see it got worse tonight," he said. "Don't cover it from me, I've been watching you leave detention every night this past week. Why do you always stop right at this spot?"

I let out a small laugh and squeezed my eyes shut.

"Cedric and I used to talk here all the time," I said. "Back when George and I weren't speaking. This was far from Gryffindor Tower but close to the kitchens..."

"And this is the spot that after that torture reminds you he was alive and was killed and that you are in fact, not lying, despite what that woman makes you think," The Friar deduced.

I looked at the Friar and nodded slowly.

"Could he become a ghost?" I asked.

"Not everyone chooses to," The Fat Friar said. "I don't suppose he would choose to. But you'd be better off asking Sir Nick— he knows more about it than I do."

"Alright," I sighed, seeing my hand had stopped bleeding. "I miss him."

"I do as well," the Friar said. "He was a charming boy. I still cannot believe this happened."

"You believe me, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" The Friar said. "How could I not? Why would a child lie about seeing their best friend killed?"

"The Ministry keeps saying I could have killed him," I mumbled. "Because I did kill that one Death Eater... Macnair. When... my powers just burst out."

"I have never been fond of the Ministry of Magic," the Friar said thoughtfully. "They do not handle things as well as they should, and allow conspiracy theories to rise up and become inexplainable truths. They taint everyone's reputations and tarnish the names of all those who are honest, preserving those who have done wrong."

I winced. "How can I even prove to them I'm telling the truth?"

"My dear girl it is not a matter of how or when you can prove it," the Friar sighed. "They won't believe you no matter what you say. Fudge won't believe you until he sees it himself."

"Lovely," I said, biting my tongue. "Well next time I'm facing Voldemort I'll just summon half the Ministry so they can see for themselves."

The Fat Friar actually chuckled. "Stay strong, Miss Potter. Cedric wouldn't want you to let this get you down."

I nodded and sighed, waving as he floated away.

I walked to the Gryffindor Common Room after that, my arm swinging beside me as I thought of what the Friar had said.

That wall did connect me with Cedric. And it did help me remember he lived, and what I was fighting for.

I surprised to see George and Harry doing homework when I climbed through the portrait hole.

"It's past midnight," I said softly, making them look up.

Harry yawned. "I couldn't sleep without seeing you get back safely."

I smiled. "Thank you, Harry. Go to sleep now..."

Harry's eyes traveled to my swinging hand and his expression dropped. "What's that on your hand?"

I flinched, looking at my bloody hand and shoving it into my pocket.

"It's nothing," I said quickly. "I tripped—"

George got up immediately, and came over, holding his palm out.

"Show me your hand," he said softly.

I winced, and looked down.

"Beth I have tripped many times in my life and that is not from hitting the ground," he said.

Reluctantly, I drew my hand out and placed my palm in his.

George sucked in his breath harshly, hissing slightly as his fingers traced the outline. The feeling made me wince and he stopped.

"She's been doing this to you?" He whispered.

"It's fine— it's nothing—"

"This isn't fine!" George snapped, making Harry rush over. His mouth dropped open at he sight of my hand.

"Beth what the hell you can't let her do that—"

"Harry, Fudge gave her permission to do this!" I cried. "I couldn't stop her even if I wanted to! Please don't say anything—"

"We have to tell McGonagall—"

"No George we CAN'T—"

"But she'll put a stop—"

"She'll drag Harry into detention if she knows that you know!" I shrieked angrily, tears now splashing down my cheeks. "Please don't insist, I don't want to say anything—"

"Beth come ON—"

"The entire Ministry is backing her up! Dumbledore couldn't even stop her!"

George growled, releasing my hands and grabbing a book off the table and throwing it across the room.

"Bullshit!" He snarled. "The Ministry can't just let this happen!"

"Well they are and you yelling isn't going to help one bit!" I cried. "Please just forget—"

There was a tap at the window.

"Oi," Harry said, narrowing his eyes. "Isn't that Hermes?"

"The GOD Hermes—?"

"Percy's owl," George mumbled blankly, darting to the window and throwing it open.

Hermes dropped a letter into George's hands then hooted and flew away.

George tore it open immediately, reading it quickly. I immediately noticed something about the letter was bothering him because he began to make faces. His jaw tightened, and when he'd finished reading it, he crumpled the parchment up and tossed it near me. I picked it up and read it, my chest tightening.

"What was THAT about?" Harry asked quietly.

"This pile of rat dung believes the Daily Prophet," George snarled furiously, coming closer. "He thinks Beth's a murderer and that I should dump her."

Harry's jaw went slack.

When I finished reading the letter I covered my mouth and turned away from George, squeezing my eyes shut as more tears began to form.

Of all the people who would not support me, I didn't expect Percy to be one of them. I'd been supportive of his silly endeavors since we were children.

When he told us he wanted to be the youngest Minister for Magic, I squealed and said I believed he could even when the twins had laughed and snuck a rat into his underwear drawer to show him he wasn't brave enough.

When he started Hogwarts and set a goal to become Head Boy, I told him I knew he'd make it even though the others said it was a silly goal.

"Well," I said, my voice cracking, "if you want to er— what was it? Oh yeah, 'sever ties' with me, I swear I won't get violent or start sobbing hysterically..."

"Don't be stupid," George said, taking the letter and beginning to rip it to shreds. "He is— the world's— biggest— git!" He gathered the remaining pieces and stormed to the fire, tossing the shreds inside. The tongues of flames wrapped around them and completely incinerated them.

The fire then coughed, and I jumped slightly.

Harry stared at the fire curiously and kneeled down beside it.

"H-Harry?" I whispered.

"I think I've just seen Sirius' head in the fire," Harry said quietly.

"Sirius' head?" I asked. "You mean like when he spoke to us during the Triwizard Tournament?"

"Yes," Harry said. "I swear I saw it!"

"But that's— SIRIUS!"

George's mouth dropped open as Sirius' face materialized into the fire.

"Glad to see you're still awake," Sirius said. "An hour ago it was empty."

"How often have you been checking?" George inquired.

"Every hour," he said. "Just for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear yet. I think a girl— first year by the look of her— might've got a glimpse of me earlier, but don't worry, I was gone the moment she looked back at me. I'll bet she just thought I was an oddly shaped log or something."

"Sirius!" I hissed, wiping the tears from my cheeks. "That was so dangerous!"

"You sound like Molly," Sirius said, sighing. "This was the only way I could come up with of answering Harry's letter without resorting to a code— and codes are breakable."

"Harry's letter about—?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at my brother.

"Oh crap," Harry said, turning red. "I forgot to tell you— don't look at me like that, Beth, there was no way anyone would have got secret information out of it, was there, Sirius?"

"No it was very good," Sirius said.

"But why didn't you tell me—"

"We'll get into that later," Sirius insisted. "We need to be quick in case we're disturbed. Harry— your scar."

I turned furiously to Harry. "Your scar is STILL hurting?"

"Yes, this is why I don't tell you!" Harry said.

"Beth, Harry, stop it," Sirius said sharply. "Listen Harry, I know it can't be fun when it hurts, but we don't think it's anything to really worry about. It kept aching all last year, didn't it?"

"Yeah, and Dumbledore said it happened whenever Voldemort was feeling a powerful emotion," Harry said, causing George to wince. "So maybe he was just, I dunno, really angry the other day I felt the pain."

"Before you answer, Sirius, let me ask," I said coldly, "when was this?"

"About a half a week ago in Umbridge's class," Harry said. "She patted my shoulder on my way out the door and it just hurt."

"Are you KIDDING me—?"

"Beth," George said, taking my hand and squeezing it. "Relax a bit..."

I scowled and crossed my arms.

"Okay," Sirius sighed, rubbing his temples. "Listen, I don't think it had anything to do with Umbridge touching you. I know her by reputation and I'm sure she's no Death Eater. The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. I know she's a nasty piece of work though— you should hear Remus talk about her."

"Does Uncle Remus know her?" I asked, looking up.

"No," Sirius said, "but she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years ago that makes it almost impossible for him to get a job. She even campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and tagged last year too."

Sirius let out a small laugh, trying to lighten the mood when he saw me frown. "Imagine wasting your time and energy persecuting merpeople when there are little toerags like Kreacher on the loose."

George and Harry both let out hearty laughs but I didn't.

"At any rate, Harry," Sirius said, turning back to my brother, "your scar is bound to hurt more often now because he's back. That's just how it is."

"Okay," Harry sighed.

There was a pause.

"So what are Umbridge's lessons like?" Sirius said. "Is she training you all to kill to half-breeds?"

"No," George said, gritting his teeth. "She's not letting us do magic at all!"

"All we do is read the stupid textbook," I mumbled. "And I get detentions for speaking my mind."

"Ah, well that figures," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Our information from inside the Ministry is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."

"Trained in combat?" I asked. "So that's why he's letting her mutilate me— to keep me under control? Does she think she'll keep a rebellion from happening if she silences everyone that talks back like I did using those quills?"

"Basically," Sirius agreed.

"What does he think we're doing here?" George asked quizzically. "Forming some sort of wizard army?"

"That's exactly what he thinks you're doing, or rather what he's afraid Dumbledore is doing," Sirius said. "It's why he's given authority for those quills, Beth. He thinks Dumbledore might be forming his own private army, with which he'll be able to take on the Ministry of Magic."

"So we're being prevented from learning Defense Against the Dark Arts because Fudge is scared we'll use spells against the Ministry?" George asked.

"Yep," Sirius said, nodding to him. "Fudge thinks Dumbledore will stop at nothing to seize power. He's getting more paranoid about Dumbledore by the day. It's a matter of time before he has Dumbledore arrested on some trumped—up charge."

"Absolutely lovely," I said bitterly. Then my eyes widened. "This is off topic— but any news about Hagrid?"

"Ahh..." Sirius said, shaking his head. "Well he was supposed to be back by now, no one's sure what happened to him. But Dumbledore isn't worried, so don't be worried either— I'm sure he's fine."

"But if he was supposed to be back by now..." I mumbled, looking at George, who winced.

"Madame Maxime was with him, we've been in touch with her and she says they got separated on the journey home," Sirius said. "But there's nothing to suggest he's hurt or— well nothing to suggest he's not perfectly well."

Sirius sighed, seeing we all looked worried. "Listen, don't go asking too many questions about Hagrid. It'll just draw even more attention to the fact he's not back, and I know Dumbledore doesn't want that. He'll be okay. When's your next Hogsmeade weekend anyway?"

"You shouldn't come," Harry said immediately. "There was an article in the Prophet this past weekend, they're narrowing down were you are, Sirius, and Lucius Malfoy seems to have seen you."

"The Prophet is always guessing where I am, they haven't really got a clue—" Sirius began.

"It's too dangerous," Harry continued frantically. "I think Malfoy— Draco, that is— knows what you look like. Something he said on the train. He could recognize you—"

"All right all right, I've got the point," Sirius said in an irritated voice. "Just an idea, thought you might like to get together—"

"It would be nice," I said, biting my lip. "But Harry's right, it's REALLY risky—"

"You're less like your father than I thought," Sirius said coldly. "The risk would've been what made it fun for James. You know Beth you keep saying you don't want to be compared to your mum but you're JUST like her. You don't take risks. If I didn't know better I wouldn't think you were James' kid."

My mouth went dry, and my chest tightened.

"Well I'd better get going, I can hear Kreacher coming down the stairs," Sirius said flatly. "I'll write to tell you a time I can make it back into the fire, then, shall I? If you can stand to risk it?"

There was a pop and Sirius disappeared.

I quickly turned away from George and Harry, stifling a sob.

What he said had hurt. A lot.

"Beth," Harry said. "He's probably just annoyed being in that house—"

"I'm going to sleep," I croaked. "God this night couldn't get any worse..."

I quickly snatched up my book bag and darted upstairs, sprinting into my dorm and shutting the door, collapsing onto the floor and covering my mouth and I cried.

_______

A month passed before I got detention again for arguing in Cedric's favor. Umbridge had smiled sweetly and seemed excited to learn that I would have to spend another week with her.

Luckily, this time, my friends were prepared. On the third night when I returned dizzy from the blood loss, I found both sets of twins, Katie, Lee, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, had all waited up for me.

"You guys need sleep," I groaned as Hermione ran forward with a rather large bowl of what smelled like murlap tentacles and shoved my hand into it.

"It's a solution of strained and pickled murlap tentacles, it should help!" She piped up.

"Oh yeah I can smell it," I said, wincing as my hand burned. "Very well done, Hermione."

I moved to sit beside George, who had a purring Addy in his lap.

"So," I said, looking around. "You guys were having a meeting."

"How did she know?" Lee asked incredulously.

"Please— you're ALL together," I said. "Something is brewing."

Hermione bit her lip and stood up. "Well, as you know, I've been very angry that my OWL year is being ruined by that awful woman."

I nodded.

"So I was thinking today... thinking that— maybe the time's come when we should just— just do it ourselves."

"Do what ourselves?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and sloshing my hand in the murlap.

"Well— learn Defense Against the Dark Arts ourselves," Hermione said.

At this everyone's mouth had dropped open. Apparently Hermione HADN'T said anything before I arrived.

"Come off it!" Ron cried, "you want have to do extra work? D'you realize how behind on homework we'd be?"

"But this is much more important than homework!" Hermione said.

"I didn't think there was anything in the universe more important than homework," Batavia said, looking surprised.

"Don't be silly, of course there is!" Hermione said, making Bixby and Katie smirk. "It's about preparing ourselves. We can't defend ourselves properly if we're not learning anything!"

"But we can't do much by ourselves," Ron argued. "I mean all right, we can go and look jinxes up in the library and try to practice them, I suppose—"

"No I agree," Hermione said, looking right at me, "we've gone past the stage where we can just learn things out of books. We need a teacher, a proper one, who can show us how to use spells and correct us if we're going wrong."

"We can't sneak my godfather back in," I said, frowning.

"I didn't mean him," Hermione said, wringing her hands together, "I know he's too busy with the Order and anyway, the most we could see him is during Hogsmeade weekends and that's not nearly often enough."

"Who then?" I asked.

"You and Harry!" Hermione said. "I'm talking about you two teaching us Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Everyone stared at Harry and I.

I laughed, making Harry blink a few times.

"You're funny," I said. "It isn't April Fools, Hermione— we're not teachers."

"But look at what you've experienced!" Hermione said, which suddenly got everyone else nodding. "In your second year you saved the Stone and faced You Know Who."

"But I just got lucky—"

"Second year you faced Riddle even when he tried to seduce you!" Hermione said. "And Harry killed the basilisk and destroyed Riddle!"

"Oi!" Harry cried. "But if Fawkes hadn't turned up—"

"And third year!" Hermione cried. "Harry fought off about a hundred dementors at once—"

"You know that was a fluke," Harry argued, "if the Time Turner hadn't—"

"And last year," Hermione finished, looking at me. "You fought off You Know Who—"

"Stop it!" I shrieked, standing up. "Listen— you guys make it sound great but Harry and I both know that we really just got LUCKY. If I didn't have these powers... Hermione, we— we didn't plan to go do all those things. I wanted a normal life and somehow kept getting thrown into those situations!"

Everyone, except Harry, smirked at me.

"What?" I cried. "You— you don't understand how AWFUL all that was. We survived because we got lucky and had help, not because we're brilliant at Defense Against the Dark Arts! You think it's just memorizing a bunch of spells and throwing them at him, like you're in class or something? The whole time you know there's nothing between you and dying except your own— your own brain— and how quickly you can react to how things change! You can't think straight when you know you're about a second from being murdered or tortured or watching your friends die— they've never taught us that in their classes, what it's like to deal with things like that..."

I drew a deep breath, and shuddered, which made everyone's expressions drop.

"You don't know how horrible it is," I whispered, sitting down, "to be there. To watch your best friend die. To get out only because Voldemort NEEDED you, and not him. How many times in this past month I've had to suffer because I ended up in that situation and got out alive when Cedric DIDN'T. I don't know how to teach you to get through that— because I'm not even sure how I did it!"

There was a beat of silence.

"But Beth, you've just said it," Hermione said softly. "Defense Against the Dark Arts is MORE than memorizing spells, it's what happens in the moment. And besides, you just gave the reason why you and Harry are the best candidates. You... you know what it's r-really like, facing him... facing V-Voldemort."

Everyone was silent, and stared at me.

"If Beth is in, I'm in," Harry said, breaking the silence.

All eyes were on me now, and I gritted my teeth, wiping my eyes.

"You need to give me some time to think," I said, getting up. "I-I just— need some air."

Before anyone could react I ran out of the portrait hole, turning myself invisible.

I was sobbing, and I could feel my form flickering. I looked down at my hands, glitching back and forth between being visible and invisible.

I turned the corner and ran into an empty classroom, breathing heavily as I slowly shut the door.

Seconds later the door opened again, and George stepped in.

I covered my face and shook my head. "I-I'm fine," I choked. "P-Please don't—"

"I'm not going to leave," he whispered, sitting down. "Stop trying to use your powers, you're hurting yourself."

I whimpered, seeing my hands were shaking furiously.

George softly took my hands in his and massaged the palms with his thumb. "You don't deserve to go through all this. You deserve to have a wonderful life. A calm one. But you got what you got and you are STILL here, STILL strong, STILL fighting. THAT is why Hermione wants you to teach us."

"I don't think I can bear it," I said, sniffling. "I can't even sit in class without thinking about Cedric. If I have to constantly think about Voldemort and teaching you guys to fight in the event you have to face him, I don't think I will be able to handle the pain because of how possible it's becoming that one day you may have to fight him and his Death Eaters. The thought of losing you...."

I choked and sobbed loudly, burying my head in George's chest.

His strong arms pulled me close. He kissed my forehead and held me tightly, stroking my hair.

"If you help us, we'll be okay," he said softly. "Because we trust you and we know you want us to be safe. You're our only chance. You don't have to do this but you should consider it."

I winced and breathed in deeply.

"M-Maybe," I mumbled, inhaling his scent. "God I can't keep breaking down like this—"

"It worries me that you've been holding it in for this long and are barely breaking down NOW," George said, cupping my face in his hands and drying my tears for me. "It's okay to cry. It shows you're strong and can feel. V-Voldemort doesn't know how to feel. You're stronger than he is already."

I chuckled slightly, and looked down.

George let go of my hand and fumbled in his pocket, pulling out a small ring. I gasped, and covered my mouth.

"I was going to wait to give this to you," he said quietly, "but I think I want to give it to you now."

"George..." I said softly.

"This is a promise ring," he whispered, holding it in front of his face and making me look up at him. He took my hand and placed the ring in it. "Elizabeth Lily Potter. I promise to stay by your side, no matter how hard it gets. I promise to never leave you. I promise to honor you all the days of my life. I promise you that this will one day be over and you'll be happy. I promise that when that day comes, I will be the one making you happy. I promise one day we will get married and have a family and... maybe loads of dogs and cats, whatever you'd like. I promise we will get through this, together."

Tears were rolling down my cheeks as he slowly turned my hand over and slipped the ring onto my finger.

He smiled, and pressed a kiss on my forehead.

"I love you."

Somehow that let me know everything would be okay, even though the difficult part was just beginning.


	54. Chapter 54

"I was wondering, Beth, whether you'd thought any more about Defense Against the Dark Arts."

I looked awkwardly at George.

Hermione apparently had waited very patiently for us to finish snogging behind the statue of Benedict the Smarmy just so she could ask me that. I didn't know what I admired more, George's ability to not laugh, or her ability to sit through that for ten minutes. She was dedicated, I'll give you that.

"Yeah," I said, crossing my arms. "Hermione... are you SURE you want me to teach you guys? Y-You must have listened to everything I said about it being luck."

"Yes Beth," Hermione said, clearing her throat. "And Harry has told me about that too, off to the side— but all the same, there's no point pretending that you're not good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, because you are. You both are the only people who can produce a Patronus, and you were the only ones last year who could completely throw off the Imperius Curse—"

"Wait what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "H-Harry threw off the curse?"

"Yes!" Hermione said. "Didn't he tell you?"

"Oh he doesn't like telling me anything that might worry me," I said, rolling my eyes. "Anyway, continue."

"The point is, Beth," she said, wringing her hands together, "you can do all sorts of things grown wizards can't. Viktor always said that you knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in the final year at Durmstrang. That potion you made— he said he'd have never been able to make that."

I sighed and shook my head.

"Do you still talk to him?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh don't be absurd we sent him a joint letter a month ago!" Hermione said, scowling. "We sent him tarts! You're trying to change the subject."

"Of course I am," I said, smiling slightly.

Hermione sighed loudly. "The point is, Beth, we need you and Harry. And he won't do it unless you do. Will... will you teach us?"

I winced and shrugged. "Well it'd only be you.. ten right? Because aside from the group that was there when you proposed it, Angelina and Alicia will also be joining us."

"Well," Hermione said, biting her lip. She looked afraid. "Well... I really think you ought to teach anyone who wants to learn. I mean, we're talking about defending ourselves against V-Voldemort— it doesn't seem fair if we don't offer a chance to other people."

I looked at her, rolling my eyes and sighing.

"I wouldn't mind, I suppose," I said, sitting back on my hip. "But... I'm supposed to be a nutter and possible murderer, remember? I doubt anyone except you ten— my LITERAL closest friends— would want to be taught by me."

"I think you might be surprised how many people would be interested in hearing what you've got to say," Hermione said innocently.

"You sly girl you've already invited more of your friends, haven't you?" I hissed, although a smirk was etched on my face.

"Possibly," Hermione said, not bothering to hide it anymore. "Think about it, please! What if— well... you know this weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend, right? How would it be if we tell anyone who's interested to meet us in the village and we can talk it over?"

"Wait wait—" George said, holding his hand up. "Why outside of school?"

"I doubt Umbridge would be very happy if she found out what we were up to," Hermione said with a mischievous grin.

"You're not the innocent and sweet, rule abiding Hermione Granger I met at the age of twelve," I noted, making her blush slightly.

"She's honorary Weasley material, she is," George said.

Hermione turned red, and George raised an eyebrow.

"Anyway," she said, clearing her throat. "I-I'll be seeing you around."

"Alright," I said, waving as she scurried away. Then, with a grin, I turned to George, giggling as he wrapped his arms around me and spun me around so my back rested on the wall. "Did you see how embarrassed she got?"

"She fancies one of my brothers," George said thoughtfully, pressing his body close to mine. "My bet is, it's Ron."

"You're the cutest though," I said absentmindedly as I stroked his hair.

"I'm yours though," George said. "Hermione would have to fight you for me."

"she wouldn't win, brilliant as she is," I said, giggling again when George took my hand and lifted it, revealing the gorgeous ring on my finger.

"God, I love how this looks on you," he mumbled, kissing my hand and squeezing it, pressing it against his own face. "One day I'll get you a nicer one— a solid gold one with an emerald and a ruby on it."

"I like this one," I said, looking at it and smiling. "It's simple, and beautiful."

"You're beautiful," George whispered. He massaged my hand with his thumb, smiling. His other hand snaked up my side and rested under my chin, lifting my face and pulling me slightly forward so our foreheads made contact but our lips didn't.

I looked at him, my heart beating at a normal rate. I found it interesting— this had become such a normal thing my heart was used to the excitement that came from it.

"So," George whispered, smirking. "Where were we before Hermione interrupted us?"

I laughed before pressing my lips onto his.

________

"If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late."

"What the hell kind of mentality is that? We're HALF AN HOUR early."

"But we're on time."

Batavia and Bixby groaned. Bixby whined and leaned onto Katie. George put his arm around me, kissing my cheek.

"Half an hour isn't even that bad, when you think of it," Fred said, looking up from where he lay on Angelina's lap. "We got a large area reserved."

"I still don't like this place," I noted, looking around at the sketchy people lingering around us. "It seems so public."

"Well Hermione said anyone could hear us at the Three Broomsticks," Batavia said. "She said it was safer here since no one... worrisome comes here."

"She does realize we'll be easier to hear HERE, right?" I inquired.

"So we cast a silencing charm," Bixby said, shrugging.

"Sure," I said, shrugging.

George kissed my cheek, and tickled my side, making me shriek and giggle.

"Can you stop being cute for like THREE seconds," Lee groaned, putting his head on the table.

"It's very annoying," Alicia piped up jokingly. "really rubs it in our faces that we're single."

"Don't be stupid the only reason you're single is cause you won't admit you like each other," Fred said, pointing at Alicia and Lee.

Lee looked up, beet red. Alicia's mouth was wide open.

Katie, Batavia, and I looked at each other awkwardly, debating whether we should say something.

"Er," George said sheepishly, standing up. "I'll... I'll get us the butterbeer..."

Lee and Alicia did not look at each other even once he'd returned.

After awhile kids started trickling in— first my brother and his friends, then the others that Hermione seemed to have invited.

"So," I said when Hermione trotted over to stand next to me, "you do realize how sketchy the people here are. We're going to draw a lot of attention being here as a group. Anyone could hear us."

"It'll be fine," Hermione insisted, looking around at who had arrived.

"Hermione, I'm serious," I mumbled. "Look at that hag there with the veil— that could be Umbridge or something."

"Umbridge is shorter than that woman," Hermione said, quietly but confidently. "And anyway, even if Umbridge does come in here there's nothing she can do to stop us. I've double— triple checked the school rules. We're not out of bounds; I specifically asked Professor Flitwick whether students were allowed to come in the Hog's Head, and he said yes, but he advised me strongly to bring our own glasses. And I've looked up everything I can think of about study groups and homework groups and they're definitely allowed. I just don't think it's a good idea if we parade what we're doing."

"No," Harry said, coming up behind me, "especially as it's not exactly a homework group you're planning, is it?"

"Yeah definitely not," I said.

"Well it's a study group then," Hermione said.

"Call it what you want," I said, shrugging.

George came over, and put his arm around me, twirling me so I ended up in his arms.

"Hi," I said, smiling.

"Want to get a bottle of firewhiskey?" He whispered. "I've always wanted to try it."

"I'm underage," I sighed, putting my hands on his chest.

"Ah yes," George said, smirking. "The underage girl my overage self happens to be dating."

"You could be arrested."

"It'd be worth going to Azkaban."

"I'd visit you."

"And then when you became of age you could join me."

I laughed, and brushed some dirt off of his shoulder. "When was the last time you wore this shirt?"

"Practice yesterday, why?"

"Explains the dirt," I said thoughtfully, which made George roll his eyes and peck me on the lips.

"Everyone's here," Hermione said from behind George, making me crane my neck to see her.

I looked back at the group. Besides my friends, there were several fifth years— Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, Lavender Brown, the Patil twins, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones, Anthony Goldstein, Terry Boot, and Michael Corner. There were only two fourth years— Ginny and Luna. Then there were two girls from my year— Marietta Edgecombe and my good friend Cho, Cedric's girlfriend.

"Damn I honestly didn't think you invited half your year, Hermione," I said, rolling my eyes as I rubbed my arms.

"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," Hermione said, grinning. "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"

Ron scowled from nearby and went and did so.

"What have you been telling people?" Harry asked Hermione. "What are they expecting?"

"I've told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say," Hermione said. "You don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them first."

I noticed Harry seemed kind of angry. He looked around, and his gaze softened when his eyes met Cho's.

Ah. My little brother had liked Cho Chang before— he'd even asked her to the Yule Ball last year, but by then she and Cedric were already dating.

Hermione then cleared her throat suddenly, strutting to the front and looking at everyone, her hands shaking slightly.

"Well— er— hi," she said.

The crowd looked up at her in anticipation.

"Well... erm... well, you know why you're here," Hermione said. "Erm... well Harry had the idea—" Harry shot her a sharp look. "—I mean had the idea— that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts— and I mean really study it, you know, not the rubbish Umbridge is doing with us— because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts. I thought it would be good if we— well— took matters into or own hands."

Everyone looked at me, as if expecting me to speak, but I simply raised my eyebrows and let Hermione keep talking.

She cleared her throat.

"And by that we mean learning how to defend ourselves properly," she said, sounding nervous. "We don't want just theory, but real spells—"

"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL too though, I bet?" Michael Corner asked.

"Of course," Hermione said immediately, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "But... but above all, we need to be properly trained in Defense because Voldemort is back."

The crowd shifted uncomfortably, quite a few of them shrieking softly.

"Well that's the plan anyway," Hermione said quickly, looking at me. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to—"

"Where's the proof You Know Who's back?" The Hufflepuff boy I didn't know asked.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I saw him. That's the proof."

"And how do we know you're telling the truth?" He asked sharply.

"I'd be glad to summon him right here for you but I don't think you'll be this ballsy with your accusations when you come face to face with him, will you?" I said coldly, making George smirk.

"I think," he said, brushing off my snide comment, "that we've got the right to know exactly what makes you say You Know Who's back."

"Look," Hermione said quickly before I could respond, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about—"

"No, it's fine Hermione," I said, crossing my arms and stepping to the center. "What's your name?"

"Zacharias Smith," the boy answered.

I gagged internally.

"Zacharias," I repeated, narrowing my eyes at him. "Awful name, really..."

Some people tittered with laughter. Zacharias looked indignant.

"Let's see," I said, pacing, "what exactly does make me say Voldemort's back? Oh, I dunno, I suppose I sort of saw him. But you know, if you don't believe me when I say it now, or don't believe Dumbledore when he told the whole school what happened last year, then I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."

Zacharias rolled his eyes as the people around him sucked in sharp breaths.

"All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You Know Who and that you brought Diggory's body back to Hogwarts," he said. "Dumbledore didn't give us details about how exactly Diggory was murdered, and I think we'd all like to know—"

"You want to know that, do you?" I said, a frown etched on my face. "What part, the part where I watched my best friend's body soar through the air and land on the floor, his eyes wide open? Or the part where I was tortured so that I lay, in horrible pain, next to his dead body, staring into those dead eyes while Voldemort was resurrected a few feet away?"

There was complete silence.

"Did you kill him?" Zacharias asked abruptly.

My jaw tightened, and George stood up furiously. I put my hand on his chest to stop him from launching himself at Zacharias.

"No, I did not," I said, glaring daggers at the Hufflepuff boy. "I killed a Death Eater named Macnair. Not on my own free will. You must be really thick if you think I would kill my best friend."

Zacharias did not speak, his face serious, but his eyes fearful... and anxious.

"If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone I can't help you," I said flatly. "It's not something I can show. I can't re-enact what I saw that night, and I wish I could forget it— I wish it never happened to begin with. I'm not going to talk about how Cedric died because you shouldn't need to hear it to believe me. What you should ask yourself is why in the bloody hell I would make up a story about my parents' murderer being back and why I would lie and say he ordered my best friend to be killed."

Not a single person spoke, or even made a sound.

"So," Hermione said in a high pitched voice, wringing her hands together nervously as she gently pushed me out of the way, "like I was saying.. if you want to learn some defense, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet, and where we're going to—"

"Is it true," Susan Bones asked, looking between Harry and I, "that you both can produce a Patronus?"

There was a murmur among the people.

"Yeah," Harry said.

"Yes," I said.

"A corporeal Patronus?" Susan asked.

"Yeah," I said, nodding. I flicked my wand slightly, and several people jumped back as the hippopotamus burst out.

"Marvelous," Susan sighed.

"Er— you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" Harry asked, staring at her uncertainly.

"She's my auntie," Susan said with a smile. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So— is it really true? You— Harry— make a stag Patronus?"

"Yes," Harry said.

"He actually managed to make one before I did," I said, ruffling Harry's hair slightly, causing him to lightly swat my hand away.

Several people began to whisper, looking impressed.

"And did you kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office, Harry?" Terry Boot asked. "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year."

"Er— yeah I did yeah," Harry said, turning slightly red.

"And in our first year," Neville said, "Beth and Harry saved that Sorcerous Stone—"

"Sorcerer's," Hermione hissed.

"Yes that, from You Know Who," Neville said. "I heard Beth fought him!"

People began to nod their heads.

"And that's not to mention," Cho said, smiling warmly at me, "all the tasks Beth had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year. Getting past dragons and merpeople and acromantulas and things... Cedric himself said she was the most brilliant witch he'd ever met. And when I met her myself I knew he was right."

My chest tightened hearing that, and I smiled to her, causing her to nod and wipe her eyes quickly.

"Well," I said, my voice cracking slightly. "I— well, Harry and I— both had help along the way."

"Not with the dragon you didn't," Michael Corner said. "That was a seriously cool bit of magic! Even McGonagall said it was the best Transfiguration she'd ever seen in a student!"

"Oh!" Susan continued. "And Harry got rid of those dementors this summer!"

"Well," Harry said, looking sheepishly at me, "well.. I think I speak for both of us when I say we DID know bits of the information without help but overall—"

"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" Zacharias asked abruptly.

"Oh shut up," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Well we've all turned up to learn from you two, and now you're both telling us you can't really do any of it," Zacharias said.

"What?" I hissed. "We didn't say that! We meant—"

George stood up, pulling out a long metal stick he'd gotten from Zonkos. "Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?"

"Or any part of your body, really," Fred said, standing up beside him. "We're not fussy where we stick this."

"So think again before talking to my girlfriend like that," George snarled, glaring at Zacharias. My heart leapt as he turned back to me, grinning like he hadn't just offered to destroy Zacharias' internal organs.

Hermione breathed out deeply.

"Erm," she said. "Moving on, the point is— are we all agreed we want to take lessons from Beth and Harry?"

"Yes," Fred said immediately.

"Definitely," Neville said.

"They'll be loads better than Umbridge," Batavia piped up. I smirked.

"Right," Hermione said, smiling happily. "Well then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week—"

"Hang on," Angelina said, standing up, "we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."

"No," Cho said, nodding her head, "nor with ours."

"Nor ours," Zacharias said loudly, making me cringe just from the sound of his voice.

"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," Hermione said. "But you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters."

"Well said!" Ernie Macmillan said. "Personally I think this is really important— possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWLs coming up! I personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher upon us at this critical period. Obviously they are in denial about the return of You Know Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from having defensive spells—"

"We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts," I said, holding my hand up to urge him to stop speaking, "is that she's got some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilize us against the Ministry."

"Well that makes sense," Luna said seriously, "after all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army."

I smirked a bit, laughing lightly along with George.

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, looking thoroughly confused.

"Yes, he's got an army of heliopaths," Luna said solemnly.

"No he hasn't," Hermione snapped.

"Yes he has!" Luna said.

"What are heliopaths?" Neville asked.

"They're spirits of fire," Luna said. "Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of—"

"They don't exist, Neville," Hermione said.

"Oh yes they do!" Luna said.

"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?" Hermione snarled.

"Oi! Lay off her!" I said, yanking Hermione back as she took a step towards Luna.

"There are plenty of eyewitness accounts," Luna said. "Just because YOU'RE so narrow minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you—"

I muffled my laugh right as Ginny's perfect imitation of Professor Umbridge rang out. "Hem hem."

We all jumped.

"So," Ginny said curtly, "how often are we going to meet and get Defense lessons?"

"Once a week sounds fine," Lee said, looking at me and nodding.

"As long as—" Angelina began.

"We'll take Quidditch in mind of course," Hermione said a bit sharply. "Now the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet..."

There was silence as people brainstormed.

"Library?" Katie suggested, leaning back against Bixby.

"I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," Bixby said, wrapping his arm more tightly around her.

"Maybe an unused classroom?" Dean Thomas said.

"Yeah," Fred said excitedly. "McGonagall might let us have hers, she hates Umbridge!"

"Risky," I said, "listen— we'll... figure something out later on. I'll figure out how to send a message round to everyone once we've got a time and place for the first meeting. Those of you in Quidditch— have someone tell me your training schedule and we'll see what night works best."

"Right," Hermione said, grinning from ear to ear and turning to everyone and taking out a sheet of parchment and quill. "I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here."

"But," I said quickly before anyone could begin to write, "I think we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge— or anyone else— what we're up to."

George nodded and stepped up, pecking me on the lips and writing his name.

I turned to look behind him, and noticed no one had stood up.

"You can sign in now," I said loudly, looking around.

"Er," Zacharias said, looking right at me, "well I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."

"I—well," Ernie said, looking down, "we're prefects.. and if this list was found.. well I mean to say... you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out..."

"You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year," Harry said bluntly.

"I— yes," Ernie mumbled. "Yes, I do believe that, it's just..."

"Macmillan," I sighed, "Hermione and I won't leave this list lying around. I'll lock it in a safe and only summon it when we need it, alright?"

Ernie breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay. Yes— of course I'll sign."

After that there were no more objections, and everyone had signed.

"You know," George said, bear hugging me from behind and leaning in to whisper in my ear. "You should charm that— I think Flitwick or somebody mentioned there's a jinx or hex that would theoretically let you know if someone snitches..."

"Aha!" I said, whirling around and kissing him firmly. "You're right! Hermione, be a dear and hand me that parchment."

She rolled it up and did so. I pressed my wand to it, concentrating, then smiled as I handed it back to her.

"You are brilliant," I sighed, cupping George's face in my hands.

"What do you say we get out of here?" He asked, smirking.

"I would love to," I said.

George put his arm around me and waved at everyone, leading me out.

"Well that wasn't too bad," George said, smiling as we began to walk down the path to the rest of Hogsmeade. "That Zacharias Smith bloke is a wart though."

"And you were just about to play doctor with him," I said, laughing.

"No one talks to my girl that way," George said, taking the hand with the promise ring on it and lifting it so it reflected the light shimmering around us.

I blushed, and smiled as he put his arm around me again and continued to lead me back up to the school.

When we arrived back in Gryffindor Common Room, we found the sitting area to be too full, and decided instead to hang out in George's dormitory.

"Are you hungry?" He asked once we'd propped ourselves up with several pillows on his bed.

"Nah," I said, "just tired." I leaned my head back.

"We'll take a nap then raid the kitchens at dawn," George said firmly, looking quite serious about his plan.

"Don't know if the house elves will be okay with us barging in past midnight," I noted.

"Oh darling we wouldn't be BARGING in," George said, dramatically clutching his chest as if he was a character in a romantic comedy. "More like... sneaking in."

"If we get caught we can pretend I was weary with hunger and broke out into a horrible sweating fit, and needed food to feel better!"

"Then I can sob as you collapse in my arms," George said, raising his hand over his head. "I'll cry out— 'heathens! Thou hast caused my lady to meet her demise! Thy treachery in interrupting this magnificent process hast caused my only love to perish!"

"I'll shapeshift into having a vampire's heart," I said, shrugging. "We can pretend I died."

"Remember when we pretended we both died falling off a tree and Mum got so mad she spanked us both for scaring her?" George asked, laughing.

"I honestly didn't think it would end that badly," I said, remembering the incident.

George then looked at me, narrowing his eyes. "Wait a second— can you ACTUALLY do that heart thing?"

"Probably," I said. I concentrated, and felt my chest tighten, although I didn't drop dead. I felt my chest and smirked, feeling no heartbeat.

George cocked his head to the side, pressing his fingers on my wrist, then my neck.

"You're lying," he mumbled.

"Nope," I said, tapping my chest. "I'm not— come here."

George turned red. "Er— you want me to just..."

"Oh don't be silly you're not GROPING me," I sighed, grabbing his hand and pressing two of his fingers over my heart. His eyes widened.

"Damn it really isn't beating," he mumbled, looking away slightly as he gaped in awe. In his lack of attention, he pressed his entire palm on my breast, making me jump slightly.

"Shit, sorry," he said immediately, blushing as he drew his hand away.

I bit my lip, then burst out laughing.

"What?" He asked quizzically.

"Remember when you, Fred, and Ron saved Harry and I from the Dursleys with the Ford Anglia?" I asked. "Fred kept mentioning how my chest... expanded and you refused to look."

"It would have been utterly disrespectful to do so," he said firmly, looking away.

I smirked, feeling my cheeks grow hot.

George looked at me, his face still very red.

Then we both burst out laughing.

"It's fine, George, you can LOOK," I said, covering my face. "It's— it's not a crime. Just as long as you don't... you know. Get too touchy."

"Okay," George said, although he still looked away.

I giggled, leaning over and kissing him on the lips. He kissed back firmly, placing his hands on my hips.

I deepened the kiss, my mouth moving rhythmically with his as his tongue slipped into my mouth, slamming my tongue down, which led to him emitting a small groan and his grip tightening on me. My hands wrapped around his neck and rested behind it, pulling him close so that I could feel his heartbeat through my chest.

His hands snaked their way down to my bottom, squeezing it as he positioned me right on his lap, my legs wrapping around him the best I could. My stomach was leaping with butterflies as I felt him grind his hips against me, his hands still massaging my bottom. My hands snaked their way down to his chest. His heartbeat was faster now, and he was breathing heavily as he reached one hand up to cup my face in his hands, tilting it to gain better access into my mouth.

I felt my hands travel down all the way to his waist. Impulsively, and unable to control myself, I slipped my hands under his shirt and began taking it off him. For a second we disconnected our lips to remove it completely, and before I knew it, my shirt was off too.

I was losing track of everything. My mind was occupied with the fact that George was now sucking heavily on my neck and I was emitting some small moans, arching my neck back to give him better access.

But when I felt myself start to undo his belt, I immediately pulled away, breathing heavily, my heartbeat back.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly, gasping for air. "I-I'm not... I shouldn't— w-we should stop.

"Yeah," George said, turning red and withdrawing his hands from where they'd been resting on my back, inches away from my bra. From what I could feel, he'd been about to start unclasping my bra as I had begun undoing his belt.

I climbed off him, blushing crimson as I lay down. George was panting slightly, blushing as well.

We stared at each other, for an instant taking in every exposed inch of each other's bodies. We'd seen more of each other before— like when we'd gone into the prefect's bathroom last year. But this was different, this meant something different than what that adventure had meant.

His body was the same but it radiated a different energy, making me feel a different range of emotions. His freckled skin was so much more attractive now, and I felt guilt when I heard a voice in my head telling me to just go all the way.

"It's late," I said quickly, still trying to get my breathing under control and stop my mind from tempting me into something I should not do.

"It is," he said, looking at me up and down before yawning.

My hand traveled to my neck, and I felt a spot that was hot.

"I er— may have left a mark there," George said sheepishly.

"It's fine," I said quickly, my heart still beating fast.

My body was trembling slightly as I slipped my shirt back on and moved so my head rested on his chest, my arms wrapping around him.

I listened to his heart beat begin to slow down, and repeated to myself that I needed to resist the strength of the temptation.

I must have dozed off. In fact, I didn't even realize we both had actually fallen asleep until the next morning, when I opened my eyes to the sound of—

"No bloody way!"


	55. Chapter 55

"No bloody way!"

I looked up sleepily, not being able to see who it was.

I heard movement by the doorway, but my vision was blurred. Someone was whispering and another was laughing loudly. There was now a group of people inside... I could see their outlines, but not their faces.

"Did you two—?"

"No!" George hissed.

I felt movement right beside me and yawned. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and opening then, seeing Fred, Harry, and Bixby all staring from around the bed.

"Oh fuck," I said, sitting up. My shirt was still halfway on, and my hair must have been a mess.

Fred and Bixby were smirking. Harry was frowning.

"We didn't do anything!" I said, scowling at him.

"Then what the hell is that on your neck?"

I reached for my neck, not remembering what happened.

"How did you even give her such a big hickey?" Fred gasped in awe, coming closer to examine it. "Must be the size of a Quaffle!"

"Oh shut up," George said. He was red, and was slowly climbing out of bed.

I heard a jingling noise. When I saw Harry's face, I turned abruptly to George.

His pants were at his thighs, his belt slapping the zipper— which had caused the jingling noise.

"Beth what the hell?" Harry growled, his fists balled up as he looked at George.

"Oi!" I cried, getting up and pulling up my own pants to an appropriate height. "Calm down!"

Harry glared furiously between George and I, looking angrier than I'd ever seen him before. His eyes fixated on George and he breathed heavily. "I suggest you get the hell out right now."

"Harry!" I cried. "We didn't do anything!"

Harry started walking menacingly toward George, who held his hands up in surrender.

"Harry mate, calm down," he said. "This is not what it looks like. We just fell asleep. Nothing happened."

"Tell me then, Weasley," Harry spat, "why her shirt is halfway on?"

George seemed to be trying to lighten the mood, because he sheepishly responded with "maybe she just moves around a lot in her sleep—"

When Harry lunged forward and punched George, I screamed and shot forward, landing between them.

"STOP IT!" I screamed, pushing Harry back. "What is the matter with you?"

"I DON'T WANT YOU DOING THAT SHIT WITH MY SISTER," Harry growled to George, trying to lunge at him again.

"Harry, mate, calm down!" Bixby said, grabbing his arms and pulling him back.

George rubbed his jaw, looking at Harry with narrowed eyes. "We didn't do anything! Besides, I'd make sure she wanted to before—"

Harry kicked Bixby and threw me aside, punching George again.

Fred and Bixby both pulled Harry back while I shielded George. Harry's loud cursing had caused Lee and Ron to come poke their heads through the door in confusion.

"HARRY STOP!" I screamed as my brother tried to fight back.

"I told you—" he snarled at George. "I told you not to— and you PROMISED you wouldn't—"

I turned back to George. "What is he talking about?"

George was grimacing. "Harry mate I didn't break any promises—"

"I TOLD YOU THAT I DIDN'T WANT YOU TWO TO DO THAT—"

"Harry!" I snapped, looking at George then at my brother. "We didn't do anything! We were just talking and... fell asleep."

"LIKE HELL YOU DID! BOTH OF YOU WITH YOUR PANTS HALFWAY DOWN YOUR LEGS AND—"

"CALM DOWN!" Fred bellowed, making us all stop. "Harry mate what the bloody HELL are you getting so worked up about?"

"Harry I promised I wouldn't have sex with her and we DIDN'T," George said, his lip bleeding.

Harry breathed heavily, looking between us. "I don't want you two to see each other anymore."

"Harry you're being so unreasonable—"

"No!" Harry spat. "I'm not! I'm allowed to not want my sister fooling around with my best mate's brother! It's weird enough for me knowing you were raised as siblings!"

"What?" I cried. "Harry, George and I aren't biologically related, why does it matter—"

"I DON'T WANT YOU TWO TO DATE," Harry spat. "THAT'S FINAL. YOU DON'T GET TO BE ALL TOUCHY IN PUBLIC ANYMORE I DON'T LIKE IT."

George and I looked at each other. Fred and Bixby seemed afraid to challenge Harry, and from the door, Ron and Lee were gaping at him.

"Harry—"

"NO!" Harry spat, stomping his foot on the floor. "No— no. My opinion matters here because our parents aren't here to say anything—"

"Mum and Dad wouldn't be acting like this!" I cried. "Uncle Remus and Uncle Sirius both are okay with it—"

"WELL I'M NOT," Harry bellowed. "I'M THE ONE THAT HAS TO SEE YOU TWO GROPING EACH OTHER—"

" _Groping each other_? You—"

Harry turned nastily to George. "You two can be friends all you want but don't you dare touch my sister like she's your girlfriend anymore because she isn't. And don't let me find out from anyone else that you did."

"Harry, mate," George pleaded, looking guilty. "We didn't and haven't done anything of the sort, you're being unfair—"

"Unfair to you?" Harry hissed. "You just want to get in her pants—"

"No I don't!" George yelled. "I respect her more than that! I wouldn't do that unless she gave me permission—"

"MY DECISION IS FINAL," Harry spat. "Break up now."

Then he stormed out, making Ron and Lee jump away from the door.

I was breathing heavily, my chest tight.

"What the hell," I panted, "is his problem?"

"He's just being overprotective," Fred said, although even he looked uncertain.

"What are we going to do, then?" George asked me, swallowing hard.

"You aren't seriously going to listen to him, are you?" I inquired.

"Of course I am!" He cried. "He's your brother and he's not okay with it— I think I'd do the same if I saw a bloke like that with Ginny. I know we didn't do anything, Beth, but if he's not going to like it then I don't want to be on his bad side."

I looked down, tears of fury toward Harry starting to form in my eyes.

I heard movement. Fred, Bixby, Lee, and Ron all left the room. George came closer and took my hands in his. I didn't look up.

"I love you," he whispered. "I want a life with you. And I want Harry to be okay with that. If he doesn't want us to be together right now we'll respect his wishes and keep a reasonable distance. It doesn't mean I love you any less because I choose to listen to him and respect that he doesn't want me touching you in any way he deems inappropriate."

At this I looked up, already crying.

"George," I said softly, "I get why you want to listen to him and I love you more for being so respectful of his opinion. But I don't want to do this."

"Neither do I," he said. "But if it means that in the future I get to enjoy a life with you, I'll do anything," he added, caressing my face.

I leaned in and pressed a kiss on his lips.

George pulled away, and sighed. "We should get dressed properly."

"Yeah," I mumbled, wincing slightly before waving and heading out the door, my chest tight, my heart beating rapidly.

When I reached the foot of the stairs, I saw a small crowd gathered around the announcement board.

"What happened?" I asked Katie, who was walking my way.

"Umbridge banned all clubs and organizations," she spat. "Which includes Quidditch."

"She didn't!" I cried.

"We have to ask her for permission to reform," Angelina said, making me jump as she walked up behind me. "So behave."

I nodded, and looked back at Katie.

"It's suspicious," I said. "Just this weekend we decided on making the organization."

"Someone must have blabbed to her!" Katie sneered. "My bet is it was that Zacharias wart."

"They can't have," I said. "George suggested I hex the list and I did. If anyone ran off to tell Umbridge we'll know exactly who they are— their faces would be marked with these awful puss filled boils."

Katie's mouth dropped open and she smirked.

"Brilliant," she said. Then she frowned. "Wait— but what if someone who didn't sign the list heard and told her?"

"It's possible," I said, gritting my teeth. I looked behind me and saw George walking downstairs. Sighing, I turned and ran up the girls' staircase to get dressed.

________

The only thing that helped me make it through the day was knowing that later that night we'd be able to talk to Sirius.

Apparently, this had been scheduled with Harry about a week ago and Harry was going to tell me that morning except, of course, he found George and I in a questionable position and thus forgot. Hermione told me instead.

Harry and I were sitting far away from each other, our arms crossed, when Sirius' head popped into the fire. Right away, he knew something was wrong.

"Elizabeth, Harry," he said sternly. "Why aren't you talking to each other?"

I didn't answer and neither did Harry. Hermione groaned loudly.

"One of you has to explain it to him— I don't know what happened!" She cried.

I turned to Harry and rolled my eyes, then turning to Sirius.

"Last night George and I were talking on his bed," I said. "And I admit we snogged a bit— almost got carried away. But didn't. And accidentally fell asleep on the same bed. Lo and behold, Harry of all people discovered us and was so furious that he said George and I can't date anymore after punching him twice. And George wants to listen to him."

"At least he's doing one thing right," Harry spat.

"Oh come on," Sirius said, looking at Harry. "Why is this a problem? Beth just said they didn't do anything—"

"They almost did," Harry said sharply. "I have a right to tell them not to date. George agrees and actually listened to me. So they can't date."

"Very unreasonable," Sirius mumbled. "Harry she isn't—"

"I'm the one that has to watch him kiss her EVERY BLOODY MINUTE day in and day out," Harry hissed. "So I say no."

"Fine," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "But you can't be mad at each other forever."

"Yes we can," I hissed. "Harry's sensitive arse went and ruined my relationship."

"Well your boyfriend thinks my opinion on it all makes sense and he respected my decision so don't complain," Harry retorted.

Sirius groaned. "Oh fine— solve your problems yourselves. This isn't what I'm here to talk about. What's this I hear about a secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group?"

We were silent.

"How did you know about that?" Harry demanded.

"You want to choose your meeting places more carefully," Sirius said. "The Hog's Head, I ask you—"

"Well it was better than the Three Broomsticks!" Hermione said right away. "That's always packed with people—"

"—which means you'd have been harder to overhear," Sirius said.

"That's what I said!" I protested. "I said the Hogs Head was too deserted, which would make people listen in!"

Hermione scowled at me.

"Next time, consider that," Sirius said. "Listen, Mundungus overheard you— he was the witch under the veil."

"So the Order's got him cross dressing in order to keep an eye on us?" I asked, annoyed.

"Yes," Sirius said. "And good thing he's keeping an eye on you, isn't it, if the first thing you're going to do on your weekend off is organize an illegal defense group."

"It wasn't illegal at the time," I said.

"Well it is now," Sirius said.

There was another moment of silence.

"Why was Dung hiding from us?" Ron asked awkwardly. "We'd have liked to've seen him."

"He was banned from there twenty years ago," Sirius said. "Barman's got a long memory. We lost Moody's spare Invisibility Cloak when Sturgis was arrested, so Dung's been dressing as a witch a lot lately. Anyway— first of all, Ron, I've sworn to pass on a message from your mother."

"Oh yeah?" Ron asked skeptically.

"She says on no account whatsoever are you to take part in an illegal secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group. She says you'll be expelled for sure and your future will be ruined. She says there will be plenty of time to learn how to defend yourself later and that you are too young to be worrying about that right now. She also advises Harry, Hermione, and Beth not to proceed with the group, though she accepts that she has no authority over any of them and simply begs them to remember that she has their best interests at heart. She would have written all this to you, but if the owl had been intercepted you'd all have been in real trouble, and she can't say it for herself because she's on duty tonight."

"Doing what?" I asked quickly, my chest tight.

"Never you mind, just stuff for the Order," Sirius said. "So it's fallen to me to be the messenger and make sure you tell her I passed it all on, because I don't think she trusts me to."

Ron sighed. "So you want me to say I'm not going to take part in the defense group?"

"Me? Certainly not!" Sirius said. "I think it's an excellent idea!"

"You do?" Hermione asked excitedly, proud of herself.

"Of course I do!" Sirius said, turning to me. "Do you think your father and I would've lain down and taken orders from an old hag like Umbridge?"

"Definitely not," I said. "But Sirius— last term all you and Uncle Remus did was tell me to be careful and not take risks...."

"Last year all the evidence was that someone inside Hogwarts was trying to kill you, Beth," Sirius said. "This year we know that there's someone outside Hogwarts who would like to kill us all. I think learning to defend yourselves properly is a very good idea!"

"We can thank Hermione for that," I said, smiling.

But when I turned toward her I saw she looked nervous.

"And if we do get expelled?" She asked slowly.

"Hermione this whole thing was your idea!" Harry cried incredulously, making me laugh. Harry and I looked right at each other and I sighed, shaking my head at him.

"I know it was!" Hermione said. "I just wondered what Sirius thought."

"Better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting safely in school without a clue," Sirius said.

"I suppose so," I said, shrugging.

"So," Sirius said eagerly, "how are you organizing this group? Where are you meeting?"

"We don't know that yet," I said. "Both sets of twins and I were talking about it, and we can't figure it out. The Shrieking Shack would be convenient but it's too small...."

"Hmm," Sirius said. "There used to be a pretty roomy secret passageway behind that big mirror on the fourth floor, you might have enough space to practice jinxes in there."

"That's caved in," I said solemnly.

"Damn," Sirius said. "Well, I'll have a think and get back to—"

Suddenly his face went slack, and he appeared very alarmed. He turned to look all around the fireplace. Then suddenly he vanished, and right where his head had been a chubby hand with rings waved around.

I jumped back, and gasped. Hermione, Ron, and Harry stood up quickly, and for a moment we looked fearfully at the fire.

It had to have been Umbridge's hand.

________

So... I haven't told you about what's happened since Umbridge sort of caught Sirius in the fire. I guess I got distracted with everything that's happened. I hope you understand. Then again, I expect you should, since you've been listening to me talk about my life for this long. You must care at least slightly.

Anyway, we decided to lay low after the incident. Umbridge probably suspected we'd been behind it since she kept looking at me in a hostile manner during class, but the fact she didn't confront me led me to not worry too much about it all. Sirius would be fine.

George and I abided by Harry's rules for the following month, which was agonizing. It was difficult to keep track of when we were around someone Harry knew. We luckily could get away with hugs and him leaning on me but so much ad a cheek kiss or holding hands was our of the question, which Harry made very clear.

Luckily, in my distress, I had an epiphany where I recalled the Yule Ball and Dumbledore mentioning a room that appeared and disappeared. George, Fred, and I went looking and found it on the seventh floor.

Apparently the room had abilities to adapt to what the seeker needed. For us, it became a room full of Defense Against the Dark Arts books and cushions.

We dubbed it the Room of Requirement, and after Hermione gave me the idea to use a Protean Charm on some fake Galleons, we were able to have our first meeting near the end of October.

Our organization was then named Dumbledore's Army through input by Cho and Ginny, which I think was the best name ever. Just what the Ministry is afraid of, right? That'll tick them off.

Anyway— back to present time.

The first Quidditch game of the season is tomorrow and honestly, I'm really afraid.

Ron's been really nervous throughout practice since we got approved to have the team back. The Slytherins aren't helpful— they really are awful and watch our practice just to make fun of him.

"Just rest up," Angelina said, wincing. "Big day tomorrow...."

Ron scowled and went into the locker room, Harry following him closely.

George leaned on my shoulder and I sighed, patting his head.

"Do you think we'll do good tomorrow?" He asked.

"I dunno," I whispered. "Ron doesn't believe in himself at all. It's going to be hard for Katie, Angelina, and I to try and score more points than the Slytherins without a Keeper backing us up. Damn I miss Wood."

"Well hello Batavia," George said with a smirk, making me roll my eyes.

We walked into the locker room, and saw practically everyone had left with their uniform on except for Harry, who appeared to have been waiting for us.

"You're stalking me and I feel uncomfortable," I said flatly before heading to the girl's locker room.

In case you're wondering, Harry and I did start to talk again. Civilly, I suppose you could call it. I'm still quite bitter about him imposing such restrictions but I evened the score by saying he isn't allowed a girlfriend until he turns 16, which I know is pure torture to him since he fancies Cho Chang.

It bothers me honestly, that she flirts with him. She's a lovely girl, truly, but... Cedric hasn't even been dead for a year and she's already moving on.

I'm not saying people shouldn't moved on after their loved one has died. In fact I think they should eventually give their love to someone else as well, to share it.

But the thing with Cho is how quickly she's jumped from Cedric to my brother. It worries me because it makes me think she had feelings for Harry while dating Cedric. I knew she fancied Harry before she dated Cedric, although I'm not so sure what happened during. A person who is truly mourning could NOT have moved on that fast, which leads me to believe Cho still fancied my brother while she dated my best friend, and now her feelings are just coming into full swing.

And I don't like that one bit.

Once I finished getting dressed, I went back into the boy's locker room and found George was all dressed. I smiled, seeing Harry was gone.

"Did the little brat say anything?" I asked.

"No, your darling little brother was civil," George said. "Thankfully."

"Hmm," I said, slowly walking towards him and putting my hands on his chest.

George breathed in deeply. "Beth...."

"George," I said back, looking him in the eye. "Harry isn't here. No one is here."

George looked around and nodded slightly.

"I don't want to follow his stupid rules, George," I said slowly. "He can't control me. So here's what I want to do. We can meet up a few times a week when he's not around and just... do whatever. Snog, talk, I dunno. He doesn't want to hear from anyone we were together right? So we just have no witnesses."

"Sneaking around?" George asked, a slight smirk on his face.

"Exactly," I said, grinning.

He frowned suddenly.

"Harry has the Marauder's Map," he whispered.

I sighed and stepped back, summoning the map and thrusting it into his hand.

"Not anymore," I said, biting my lip and looking up at him.

George looked at me curiously. Then, he tossed the map aside, grabbed my face, and pressed his lips on mine.

The fiery passion I felt from it was phenomenal— like a breath of fresh air after swimming laps in a pool. I had nearly forgotten how good it felt to kiss him.

I wrapped my arms around his back and pulled him closer to me. He cupped my face in his hands and tilted it at the right angle to slam his tongue into my mouth, exploring every inch of it. My hands slid down to his lower back and slipped under his shirt, tearing it off impulsively, which led to a groan emitting from his mouth as he pushed me back against the wall and ripping my shirt off, causing me to moan slightly as his body pressed against mine, his fingertips caressing every bit of bare skin they could find. I disconnected my lips from his and trailed kisses down his neck to his collarbone. Moving my lips closer to his shoulder I trapped some of his skin in my mouth, causing him to moan slightly as I left my mark. Then, breathing deeply, a decision made in my head, I looked at him, my heart hammering in my chest.

"What?" He whispered. "You don't seriously want to have—?"

"Not that, yet," I said softly, biting my lip. "Something else... something... I've never done before but... would like to do... with— for... you."

George turned beet red, and I felt his heart rate accelerate.

Then, I crashed my lips onto his, my hands flying to his belt and undoing his pants, dropping them to the floor.

_______

"Captains, shake hands," Madam Hooch said as Angelina and Montague arrived in the center of the pitch. When they shook hands, I could tell that Montague tried to crush Angelina's fingers.

Madame Hooch blew the whistle, and tossed the Quaffle into the air.

I shot upwards and caught it, passing it to Angelina.

"And it's Johnson, Johnson with the Quaffle," Lee announced. "She's ducked Warrington, she's passed Montague, she's— ouch been hit by a Bludger from Crabbe.... Montague catches the Quaffle, Montague heading back up the pitch— and nice Bludger there from George Weasley, that's a Bludger to the head for Montague— he drops the Quaffle, caught by Katie Bell, Katie Bell of Gryffindor reverse passes to Elizabeth Potter, and Potter's away— dodges Warrington, avoids a Bludger— close call, Beth! Oh the crowd is loving this, just listen to them, what's that they're singing?"

As I flew right to the goalposts and scored, I flew back and listened closely to what the Slytherin crowd was singing.

After a few moments I realized it wasn't a song for Slytherin— it was a song about Ron.

"Weasley cannot save a thing,

He cannot block a single ring,

That's why Slytherins all sing:

Weasley is our King.  
  


Weasley was born in a bin,

He always let's the Quaffle in,

Weasley will make sure we win,

Weasley is our King."

Growling, I flew back and caught the Quaffle as Katie threw it to me.

"— and Bell passes back to Potter! Come on now Potter— looks like she's got the Keeper to beat— SHE SHOOTS SHE— ahh..."

I screamed as the Bludger that idiot Goyle shot slammed into my arm, knocking the Quaffle out of my hand and into Warrington's open hands. Warrington began to head straight to the Gryffindor goal posts.

"Weasley is our King,

Weasley is our King,

He always lets the Quaffle in,

Weasley is our King."

"—and it's Warrington with the Quaffle, Warrington heading for the goal, he's out of Bludger range with the Keeper just ahead—"

"Weasley cannot save a thing,

He cannot block a single ring..."

"— so it's the first test for new Gryffindor Keeper, Weasley, brother of Beaters Fred and George, and a promising new talent on the team— come on Ron!"

"CMON RON!" I screamed, flying at high speed beside Katie. Ron dived wildly to the side, his arms much too wide....

The Quaffle soared right between his outstretched arms and through the central hoop.

"NO!" I cried.

"Slytherin score!" Lee said, half heartedly. "So, that's ten-nil to Slytherin— bad luck, Ron...."

The Slytherins booed and jeered, then continued to sing their awful song:

"WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN,

HE ALWAYS LET'S THE QUAFFLE IN.."

"— and Gryffindor back in posession and it's Katie Bell tanking up the pitch— "

"WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN,

WEASLEY IS OUR KING.."

"Harry WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET GOING!" Angelina was screaming at Harry who was just hovering there on his broom, staring at the Slytherins.

"COME ON, HARRY!" I cried, flying back to be beside Angelina, shielding Katie from oncoming players.

"WEASLEY IS OUR KING,

WEASLEY IS OUR KING

WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN..."

"— and Bell loses it thanks to a Bludger— now it's Warrington again, who passes to Pucey, Pucey's off past Johnson, come on now Angelina you can take him— turns out you can't but nice Bludger from Fred Weasley, I mean, George Weasley, oh who cares, one of them anyways, and Warrington drops the Quaffle and Katie Bell— er— drops it too— so that's Montague with the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Montague takes the Quaffle, and he's off up the pitch, come on now Gryffindor block him!"

"WEASLEY CANNOT SAVE A THING..."

"— and Pucey's dodged Potter again, and he's heading straight for the goal, stop it Ron!"

I tried madly to catch up to Adrian Pucey before he could reach the goal, but I was unsuccessful. The Quaffle soared right into the left hoop, causing the Slytherins to jeer and laugh.

"THAT'S WHY SLYTHERINS ALL SING:

WEASLEY IS OUR KING."

"It's only twenty- nil!" I shouted to Ron as he looked over, right as I flew back into formation. "You keep trying!"

He gave me a half hearted wave and shook his head, looking as though he was going to throw up.

Then he let in two more goals, which only made the Slytherins sing louder.

"— and Katie Bell of Gryffindor dodged Pucey, ducks Montague, nice swerve Katie, and she throws to Johnson, Angelina Johnson takes the Quaffle, she's past Warrington, she's heading for the goal, come on now Angelina— GRYFFINDOR SCORE! It's forty-twenty, forty-twenty, Slytherin and Pucey has the Quaffle— Pucey throws to Warrington— Warrington to Montague- Montague back to Pucey— Johnson intervenes, Johnson takes the Quaffle, Johnson to Potter, this looks good— Potter dodges Warrington, dodges Montague, dodged Pucey— COME ON BETH— GRYFFINDOR SCORE! Forty-thirty, forty thirty!"

I couldn't celebrate because the Slytherins began to bellow their lyrics.

"WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN,

HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN,

WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN—"

Harry dived down. I noticed Malfoy went right after him two seconds afterward.

I didn't have the time to pay too close attention, because Katie had tossed the Quaffle back in my direction. But once it went to Angelina, I managed a peek.

Malfoy and Harry were neck and neck. Malfoy made a mad grasp for the Snitch but Harry dove upward and caught the Snitch right in front of Malfoy's face. I was about to let out a large cheer—

I screamed loudly and clapped my hands over my mouth as a Bludger hit Harry in the back. He was hurled off his broom and landed on his back, still holding the Snitch in the air.

I flew down immediately, tossing my broom aside and sprinting over to my brother, kneeling down beside him.

"Are you alright?!" I cried to Harry, helping him up.

"'Course I am," Harry said grimly.

Behind me, the rest of the Gryffindor team approached Harry.

"It was that thug, Crabbe!" Angelina hissed. "He hit the Bludger towards you the moment he saw you'd gotten the Snitch. But we won Harry, we won!"

I hugged Harry, smiling.

The happiness didn't last long.

There was the sound of a broom being slammed to the ground, and I turned to see Malfoy stalking toward us.

"Saved Weasley's neck, haven't you?" Malfoy spat. "I've never seen a worse Keeper. But then, he was born in a bin...Did you like my lyrics Potter?"

"Don't give yourself so much credit, Malfoy," I snarled.

Malfoy ignored me.

"We wanted to write a couple of verses! But we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly, we wanted to sing about his mother, see," Malfoy said.

"You shut up," I snarled, stepping forward. "Don't forget that slap I gave you your second year."

Malfoy smirked maliciously.

"We couldn't fit useless loser either— for his father, you know—"

"Don't bloody test me, Malfoy," I snarled, which made the twins come closer.

"Leave it," Angelina said as Fred balled up his fists. She took him by the arm and pulled him back. "Leave it, Fred, let him yell, he's just sore he lost, the jumped up little—"

"— but you like the Weasley's don't you Potter?" Draco said coldly, glaring right at Harry. "They raised your sister. And you spend holidays there and everything don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, but I suppose when you've been dragged up by Muggles, even Weasley's hovel smells okay..."

Katie rushed forward to hold me back as Angelina struggled to keep George, Harry, and Fred from beating Malfoy to a pulp.

"Or perhaps, you can remember what YOUR mother's house stank like, Potter," Draco said, looking fixedly at me. "I heard you remember your parents. Perhaps Weasley's pigsty remind you of your home—"

Katie had forcefully pulled me back, causing me to fall on the ground, conveniently whacking my head so hard I was out cold the next thing I knew.


	56. Chapter 56

So again, I haven't written in awhile. George and I have been sneaking around as much as we can and the thrill that comes from it fills me with so much excitement I forget to come over and tell you what the heck is happening with my life. My apologies.

I know you'd rather like to hear about the sneaking around. It's been... interesting.

As you could tell before, George and I got a little more... intimate. We haven't gone all the way yet but we've progressed further in a sexual way, I suppose it's called. When George told Fred, he confronted me and was absolutely shocked.

"Say it again but slower."

"George already told you what I did to... him!" I hissed, seeing people around.

Fred smirked. "I didn't think you had it in you. Damn, and you both kiss my mother with those mouths—"

I smacked him, my face turning red.

"Calm down, calm down," he said, still smirking. "But now that you've made friends with George's trouser snake—"

"I'm going to kill you—"

"—you should introduce it to your good friend the baby ejecting mechanism—"

"Oh my GOD I don't know if I hate you more for suggesting that or for CALLING it that—"

Fred shrugged, and curtsied. "Just a thought. Congrats to George, I suppose."

"Shut up now, Fred."

It has been amazing, though, and I hate how hormonal I get because of it. The passion I feel when I kiss him now is even more than before, and that's intoxicating... in a good way. It's risky because now I really really want to go all the way but know I can't. The only thing keeping me in check is George's surprisingly high level of self control.

Harry of course, can never know what we did because he will KILL George. He does seem to know his Marauder's Map is missing though, because he keeps staring at me very suspiciously. But luckily the others distract him enough so that he doesn't go looking for us.

Thank God the Room of Requirement keeps unwanted people out.

Anyway, after the Quidditch match, I was shipped right to the Hospital Wing and treated for a concussion. When the others came to visit me once I was awake, I learned George, Harry, AND Fred were all banned from Quidditch for all of eternity.

"Can she even do that?" I growled furiously.

"Looks like she can," Angelina said softly, wincing at the mere thought of it. "Well Beth... I have a proposition for you. Either you jump in as Seeker and we throw Alicia in as Chaser, or we find someone to be Seeker."

I bit my lip, and considered it. If I became Seeker it would be difficult for me to adjust— I wouldn't be ready for our next match.

"I'll get back to you on that," I said, looking around the Common Room.

Just as Angelina got up, a thought came to mind.

"Ginny," I said.

Angelina raised an eyebrow. "I'm Angelina..."

"I know," I said. "I mean Ginny— Ginny's a good Seeker. She's a better Chaser but if we let her focus on Seeking then I can focus on scoring, which is what we need more."

Angelina nodded, and looked over to the fireplace. "Ginny!"

Ginny looked over and I waved for her to come closer. She did, although she looked quite confused.

"How would you feel replacing Harry as Seeker?" Angelina asked.

Ginny's eyes lit up as if she'd gotten a birthday present.

"Yes! Please!" She said excitedly.

"Excellent, meet us at the field tomorrow at six," Angelina said, beaming.

When Ginny left, I turned to Angelina and grinned.

Aside from what happened at Quidditch, a new problem arose.

Umbridge began to inspect teachers more frequently, and with Hagrid's return it became a very bad thing.

You see, Hagrid came back bruised and bloody and we didn't understand WHY. He refused to talk about it. And he's been nervous all the time so imagine my distress as his friend when his first day back, Umbridge inspected his lesson.

"We're workin' here today!" Hagrid said happily as he waved us toward the Forbidden Forest. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark..."

"Please be a vampire," Bixby mumbled, his fingers crossed.

"Don't be an idiot, why would he bring a vampire to school?" Batavia asked, although she laughed.

"Ready?" Hagrid asked when we neared a small clearing. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer sixth year. I won' lie, I reckon the fifth years migh' like it too, so I've arranged for 'em to see 'em as well. Now, I though' we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train em..."

"It's got to be a manticore or a-a— hydra!" Bixby said, raising his hands to the sky as if he was praying. "Please be something deadly..."

"Hey just cause you have a death wish doesn't mean you have to drag us along," I said, raising an eyebrow.

Bixby closed his eyes in silent prayer.

Hagrid leaned over and picked up a dead cow carcass he'd been carrying and strode deeper into the forest. We followed him, and soon after we reached another tiny clearing where the nearby trees huddles very close together. Hagrid then dropped he dead cow on the ground and stepped back, as if waiting for a creature to step out from the clearing.

"Gather roun', gather roun'," Hagrid said. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give em a call anyway, cause they'll like ter know it's me..."

Hagrid then stood up to his full height and did a strange shrieking cry. There was dead silence on our part, out of fear for what was going to come out of the tree.

"Oh!" Bixby whispered, looking excited. "I think I know what he's going to show us!"

"A thestral," I mumbled, looking at the creature that had just popped out from behind a bush.

It had white shiny eyes, and its wings were enormous. It was Tenebrus, the same one from he carriages at the beginning of the year.

I stepped forward immediately, and reached my hand out to him.

"Be careful, Beth," Hagrid said, worried.

I said nothing. Tenebrus came closer and places his nose under my palm, closing his eyes. I smiled.

"Hello there," I cooed, caressing his face.

"He likes yeh," Hagrid said, beaming.

"Oh I've known him since I got here," I sighed, stroking Tenebrus' neck. "You've been a sweetie forever, haven't you?"

"Oh, an' here comes another one!" Hagrid said, making me look up and see another thestral had come. "Now, put yer hands up, who can see em?"

I didn't feel the need to raise my hand, but I did turn and look around.

Not a single person's hand was up.

Bixby looked incredibly bummed out that he couldn't see the thestrals, and for a moment I swear he probably considered killing Batavia for all the things she'd done to him throughout their lives just to say he could see a thestral, but I suppose he must have decided against it because he huffed and crossed his arms.

Tenebrus nickered and leaned down to feed on the cow carcass, ripping shreds of it off.

"Wicked!" Bixby cried. "Damn... that looks cool."

"Now, can anyone tell me why only some people can see the thestrals?" Hagrid asked.

Batavia raised her hand.

"Only those who have witnessed death can see the thestrals," she said softly.

If she had said it normally, I probably wouldn't have paid attention. But the soft voice she used made my heart ache.

I watched my mother die. I watched Cedric die. Of course I could see the thestrals.

"Yep," Hagrid said grimly, nodding to Batavia. "Ten points ter Gryffindor. Now thestrals—"

"Hem hem."

I turned, and Tenebrus huffed, apparently disliking Umbridge's presence.

"Hem hem," she said again.

"Oh hello!" Hagrid said, smiling to her.

"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" She asked, as thought she was speaking to a slow and foreign person. "Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"

"Oh yeah," Hagrid said. "Glad yeh found the place all righ'! Well as you can see— or, I dunno— can you? We're doin' thestrals today—"

"I'm sorry?" Umbridge asked. "What did you say?"

"Er— thestrals," Hagrid said. "Big— er— winged horses, yeh know!"

He flapped his arms, hoping it would help Umbridge understand. She rolled her eyes, and wrote on her clipboard while muttering "Has... to... resort... to... crude... sign.... language...."

I glared angrily at Umbridge.

"Well, anyway," Hagrid said, turning back to us. "Erm— what was I sayin'?"

"Appears.... to... have... poor... short... term... memory," Umbridge said scathingly, perfectly loud enough for us to hear.

"Oh yeah," Hagrid said quickly, flushing. "Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeah so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one—" He patted the one I was caressing. "—name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite. Firs' one born here in the forest. Now Beth says she knows 'im from before."

"He's a dear," I said, patting his back as everyone watched me in awe.

Umbridge huffed, making me turn and look at her. "Are you aware that the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as 'dangerous'?"

"Thestrals aren't dangerous!" Hagrid said with a chuckle. "All righ, they migh' take a bite outta you if yeh really annoy them—"

"Shows... signs... of... pleasure... at.... idea... of.... violence...." Umbridge snapped, scribbling furiously on her clipboard.

"No— come on!" Hagrid said anxiously. "I mean, a dog'll bite if yeh bait it, won't it? But thestrals have jus' got a bad reputation because o' the death thing— people used tee think they were bad omens, didn't they? Jus' didn't understand, did they?"

Umbridge merely looked at him and took one more silent note.

"Please continue teaching as usual," she said. "I am going to walk" —she mimed walking— "among the students" —she pointed at individual class members— "and ask them questions." She pointed at her mouth to indicate talking.

Tenebrus seemed to be able to sense my anger, because he nickered and rubbed his head against my shoulder.

"I hate her," I whispered. He nodded as though he understood, making me smile.

"Erm, anyway," Hagrid said, seeing very disoriented and confused with Umbridge, "so— thestrals. Yeah. Well there's loads o' good stuff abou' them..."

I turned to where Umbridge was, seeing her near Bixby.

"Do you find," Umbridge asked, "that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?"

"Oh yeah," Bixby said immediately. "He's really good at explaining things and helps me understand proper terminology and such."

"I mean with his voice and accent," Umbridge said sweetly.

"It's easy to understand," Bixby said with a shrug. I could tell he was holding back a snappy retort. "Hagrid is a good teacher."

Umbridge no longer seemed interested in Bixby.

"Er yeah," Hagrid continued, having completely lost his focus as he too observed Bixby's interview. "Good stuff abou' thestrals. Well once they're tamed, like this lot, yeh'll never be be lost again. 'Mazin' senses o' direction, jus' tell em where yeh want ter go, and they'll find it fer yeh!"

I smiled at this, then heard a breath and noticed Umbridge standing beside me.

"Hello," I said as kindly as I could muster.

She offered me a cheeky smile. "You are the only one that can see them, yes?"

"That's right," I said. I told myself I would not let her get to me.

"Whom did you see die?"

Oh God, as if you don't know.

"My mother and Cedric," I said flatly.

She nodded and took some notes. "And what do you think of them?"

"They're sweet," I said, turning back to Tenebrus so I wouldn't sneer at her. "They're very gentle."

Umbridge clearly didn't want to hear anymore out of me because she turned back to Hagrid, appearing dissatisfied with the results— almost like she was hoping for material to get him fired.

"Well, Hagrid. I think I've got enough to be getting along with," she said with a false smile. "You will receive" — she mimed taking something from the air in front of her— "the results of your inspection" — she pointed at the clipboard— "in ten days time" — she held up her ten ugly little fingers.

Hagrid looked at me, his eyes filling with tears.

Once she left, I went right to him.

"You did fine," I said. "Truly you did. She's really just an awful, awful woman who looks for the bad in everyone. I mean, she criticized Snape and McGonagall a lot and they've been teaching your years. This being your third year... you did incredible."

Hagrid wiped his eyes. "Thank yeh, Beth." He sighed. "It means a lot ter me that yeh and Bixby and Batavia are still takin' me class."

"We love it too much to drop it," I said with a smile. "Katie would have been here too but her schedule didn't work to fit it in."

"Yeh, I get tha'," Hagrid said, sighing. "But thank you..."

"No problem," I said, hearing the bell ring. I turned back to the twins and we walked back up to the castle.

"I bet she was expecting me to say I didn't understand him when he spoke," Bixby said in annoyance.

"Probably," Batavia said. "But I think this went well for Hagrid— we don't have a single Slytherin in the class to talk crap."

"What I'm worried about is his next class," I mumbled. "He said the fifth years were going to get to see the thestrals too. Harry's told me how horrid those Slytherins are that period."

"Honestly, fuck Malfoy," Batavia hissed. "If that little ferret didn't exist, the world would be a much better place."

"Oooh I second that," I said, making her laugh as I pumped my fist in the air.

________

December came sooner than we expected, which brought a lot of happiness with it.

First of all, our Quidditch practices had been going swell. Ginny was doing excellent, and I could tell it had been a good idea to ask for her to replace Harry. Unfortunately the new Beaters aren't the brightest of the lot but they'll have to do for the rest of the season.

Second of all, my birthday passed on the second day of the month and I'm proud to say I am officially an adult, and can do magic outside of school.

I was woken up to a magnificent cake in the face and many coming-of-age presents including a beautiful necklace with a watch at the end from the Weasleys, a special colored ink quill from my godfather, a new broom (Nimbus 2000! A great improvement from my Cleansweep) from Sirius, and even a small Muggle coin from Aunt Petunia... which suspiciously had not arrived with a letter begging me to leave the house. I suppose she did remember it was my birthday.

I sort of hoped perhaps Harry might stop being such a brat and just let George and I date again, but no such thing happened. He did give me a new Muggle book series though, it's very interesting so far.

Bixby and Batavia pitched in to get me a pair of combat boots I'd been eyeing at Hogsmeade for awhile, which made me so happy I quite nearly knocked them over when I hugged them.

Fred initially pranked me (he threw the cake in my face) but then handed me a few keychains for my bookbag with memorable symbols from our childhood. A ladder, from the time we tried to climb to the top of the Burrow to see if we could fly. A moon, from the time the three of us snuck out to try and make several silly wishes come true. A mushroom, from the time Fred and I got sick eating mushrooms because George told us that eating them would make Fred have powers like mine and make me be stronger.

I truly did not expect anything from George because of how many little gifts he'd given me in the weeks leading up to my birthday.

When I went downstairs I found George waiting for me by the couch, holding a little box.

I covered my face, blushing, as I walked toward him.

He opened it and revealed a set of beautiful earrings with Golden Snitches on them.

"Where on EARTH did you get these?" I squealed, putting them on immediately. "Oh George I love them."

"Glad to hear that," he said, smirking as he grabbed my bottom and pulled me close, pressing his lips on mine.

"Hem hem."

We groaned and broke apart, seeing Harry behind us.

"Since when did you become Umbridge?" I grumbled, sticking my tongue out at him. "Besides, it's my birthday."

"Which is why I worry," Harry said, shaking his head and walking away.

"He's a little shit sometimes," I sighed. "This is stupid, why is he still not letting us be affectionate in public?"

"He's just sensitive because he wants a girlfriend," George said, smirking. "Plus we're having plenty of fun after hours in various broom closets and the handy dandy Room of Requirement—"

I smacked his shoulder and blushed, biting my lip.

"So this relationship isn't illegal anymore," he noted.

"Yes, I realize that," I said slowly, looking up at him.

He looked me up and down and I put my hand in his.

"I think," I said slowly, "that I'm ready."

"Ready to...?"

"Do it," I said, looking down. "Go all the way."

George and I's hearts both skipped a beat.

"R-Really?" He asked, a wide grin appearing on his face.

"Really," I confirmed. "Not today but... yeah."

George laced his fingers with mine. "If you really don't want to, we don't have to. I want to do it when we are BOTH ready for it."

"I am ready, and I want to do it," I said firmly, licking my lips as I looked up at him.

"Well then let me know when so we can plan accordingly," George said with a wink. "Don't need your darling brother calling a meeting for the DA while the Room is busy."

I laughed at this, and blushed.

Harry did of course call a meeting later in the month, two days before holiday.

We arrived early to the Room of Requirement and found that Dobby had decorated the room with golden baubles with pictures of Harry's face that read "Have A Very Harry Christmas!"

"Ah, so I get no recognition for existing," I sighed dramatically.

"I don't know how Elizabeth would work in a pun like this," Harry said, grimacing. "Bloody hell— Please help me take those down."

"Aw do we have to?" I asked, laughing. "I like seeing how agonizing it is for you."

"Please."

"Let George and I date again."

"Beth!"

"Come on Harry, and I'll vanish all the baubles at once."

Harry narrowed his eyes at me and rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said. "But keep the PDA at a minimum, okay?"

"Gotcha," I said happily, waving my hands lightly and making all the baubles disappear.

"You know what I miss?" Harry asked.

"What?"

"You using your powers all the time to prank us and give us a laugh."

I sighed loudly, not having thought about it for months.

"It seems, inevitably, I'm going to lose them," I said. "And not using them keeps the glitching and the bursts from happening. This is preparing me for when I do lose them, I suppose. I hardly use them unless it's absolutely necessary."

"You don't mind that you're going to lose them?"

"I feel my life might be more peaceful without them," I said with a shrug. "And besides, I don't want to live and watch you all die. I want to die along with you... grow old with all of you... especially George."

Harry looked down. "You really do love him, don't you?"

"I do," I said softly, smiling. "I do."

Harry shook his head and shrugged. "I'm sorry for putting all the restrictions and being so... rude about it. It's just... I've hardly had you as a sister. I didn't met you til I was 11. We've only gotten to be siblings for about five years. I want it to last as long as possible. But you being with him means you're going to want to go off and get married and leave me, and I just... want to hold onto my sister for longer than that, because I was deprived of knowing you for so long. I feel jealous that he had you beside him all those years and I didn't, and it feels like he'd taking you away from me."

"Oh don't be silly," I said, coming closer and hugging him, ruffling his hair. "I'm not just leaving you. Yeah, I'll get married one day and start a family, but so will you. And we will visit each other everyday and have Sunday dinner with Mum, Dad, and Bill and Charlie... and Sirius and Uncle Remus."

Harry smiled at this, and sighed deeply in my arms.

After the meeting, George and I left together. Later that night I discovered my little brat of a brother had his first kiss under the mistletoe with none other than Cho Chang.

I must admit I was cross how she was already throwing herself at my brother, but I didn't say anything, and instead clapped in approval along with everyone else.

The next day was the last day of term. It was a cozy day indoors, and I spent the majority of the morning digging through my stacks of parchment to find the ten study guides I made for my OWLs to give to Hermione, who greatly appreciated it.

By the night I was positively bored, feeling like I'd done nothing exciting all day.

"This day was so lame," I groaned, leaning on George. "I went through so many boxes of parchment I feel dizzy."

"We can go for a walk," George suggested, shrugging. "Maybe have a little snog in a closet."

"Mmm I like the sound of that," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Be right back then," George said, getting up.

"Where are you headed?"

"To tell Fred, just so he knows where we are in case there's a catastrophe."

"A catastrophe...."

"Like your brother, inquiring of our location? Umbridge deciding to randomly expel any student not in their Common Room?"

"Totally possible, go ahead."

George laughed and ran upstairs.

Batavia, who had been listening, came and plopped down next to me.

"You two are SO going to do it right now," she said, giggling.

My face turned red. "You think...?"

"Beth trust me, I know how a guy acts right before he's going to..."

"George isn't Oliver."

"Ah, but they're not as different as you think. You DID say you were ready."

"I am," I said bluntly.

"Well then have fun," Batavia said sweetly as George ran downstairs.

"Ready?" He asked, smirking.

"Yeah," I said, shooting a look at Batavia before taking his hand in mine and turning us both invisible.

"Where to?" I asked once we exited the portrait hole.

"Room of Requirement?" He asked.

"Sure."

We walked in silence there, listening closely for any noise indicating we were being followed. Luckily we came across no teacher and no Mrs Norris.

The room conveniently adapted itself to be quite similar to the Common Room, except there was quite conveniently, a bed in the center of the room.

_________

I don't know what time it was when I heard a knock on the door.

George had gotten up quickly, slipped on his pants, and checked through the conveniently existing peephole.

He hurriedly threw it open, and Fred stepped in. I pulled the blankets to cover my very exposed body and stared, puzzled.

"You've... got to come... quick," he panted, apparently having ran he entire way here. "It's Harry..."

At this I bolted up. "What?"

"Something's wrong with him!" Fred said. "Ron said he woke up screaming like a maniac..."

"Well did he say what happened?" I cried, already starting to get dressed.

Fred swallowed hard, and grimaced.

"He said he saw Dad get attacked by a snake in the Ministry of Magic."


	57. Chapter 57

"SHUT UP!"

We all went silent when George yelled, his heart beating so hard I could hear it from where I was standing.

"I want to hear for myself what happened," George said, looking straight at Harry. "Tell us exactly what you saw."

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He looked at me, his eyes wide, begging for help.

I concentrated, and I drew the dream from his mind, replaying it in my head.

I didn't like what I saw.

Before saying anything, I turned to Harry.

" _Don't tell them I was the snake_!" He pleaded in his mind.

I nodded and looked at the others.

"He was inside the Ministry of Magic," I recited. "Wandering around. He saw Dad relaxing at first, then saw him get attacked by a snake— badly."

No one spoke.

Sirius and my godfather looked around at all of us, worried expressions on their faces.

"Is Mum here?" Fred asked quietly.

"She probably doesn't even know what's happened yet," Sirius said, "the important thing was to get you away before Umbridge could interfere. I expect Dumbledore is letting Molly know now."

I pursed my lips. "Can't we go to St Mungos?"

"No," my godfather said, shaking his head.

This caused an outburst.

"OUR DAD IS IN THERE—"

"I WANT TO SEE HIM—"

"YOU CAN'T KEEP US HERE—"

"AND HOW—" Sirius yelled, making us all go quiet. "HOW are you going to explain how you knew Arthur was attacked before the hospital even let his wife know?"

"We can say I had a vision, they already think I'm a nutter!" I cried.

"We CANNOT draw attention to the fact that Harry had this vision," Sirius said sharply before my godfather could reply. "Have you any idea what the Ministry would make of that?"

"Oh they'll simply have a field day— two bloody insane Potters!" I spat. "But like I said, we can say I had a vision—"

"Or that somebody else told us!" George cried. "We could have heard it anywhere else?"

"Oh yeah?" Sirius hissed. "From who?"

None of us suggested anyone.

"Listen," My godfather said, holding his hand up so Sirius wouldn't speak. "Your father was hurt while on duty for the Order. Circumstances are fishy enough without children knowing about it seconds after its happened, you could seriously damage the Order's—"

"WHO GIVES A DAMN—"

"MY DAD COULD BE DYING—"

"I WANT TO SEE HIM!"

"SHUT UP!"

Sirius looked angrier than ever. "Listen, your parents both knew what they were getting into, and they won't thank you for messing things up for the Order! This is how it is, this is why you're not in the Order, you don't understand— there are things worth dying for!"

"Easy for you to say," Fred spat, "I don't see you risking your neck."

My godfather held his hand out to cut across Sirius' chest when the latter balled his fists up, almost like he considered punching the lights out of Fred.

Then my godfather stepped in front of Sirius, and looked around at us.

"I know it's hard but we've got to act as though we don't know anything yet," he said slowly. "We've got to stay put, at least until we hear from your mother, all right?"

Fred and George huffed loudly.

"I promise that once we're certain they told your mother, we'll get all the information we can until you can visit him in St Mungos."

"Fine," George spat, sitting down abruptly.

I slowly sat down beside him, and he looked me up and down as I did so.

This was an awkward situation.

One minute we were doing it for the first time, and the next we're here, acting as normal as possible and having to pretend we didn't sneak off to have sex in the Room of Requirement, so that Harry wouldn't question why the hell we weren't in the Common Room when he had the nightmare.

My godfather hastily summoned several glasses of Butterbeer and let us drink it.

"I suggest you go to sleep," my godfather said. "We'll let you know when we hear something."

"But—"

"Ginny and Harry, both of you to bed," I said, trying not to say it in a harsh way. "You need to sleep. We'll wake you when we know something."

Harry looked furious, and stormed upstairs. Ginny waited a bit before going upstairs, not wanting to come across him while he was furious.

Then it just became Sirius, my godfather, the twins, and I.

I sighed loudly, squeezing my legs together tightly.

I wasn't going to lie, I still felt sore.

George noticed, and he looked at me, his face turning red.

Quite unfortunately, Sirius noticed.

"What's the matter?" He asked.

"I think George is trying not to cry," Fred said smoothly, coming to our rescue.

This only added to their suspicion.

My godfather looked at the three of us, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh god," he said, covering his face. "Don't tell me you two..."

I turned a deep shade of scarlet, which made Sirius' mouth drop open.

"Well then," he said. "Congratulations...?"

"Are you kidding me?" My godfather said, looking disappointed. "Did our talk at the beginning of the term mean nothing to you?"

"Of course it did," I said, annoyed. "You never said we couldn't do it. You just said—"

My mouth went dry.

_"And if you're going to do... stuff—" Sirius had said._

_"Sirius!" We whined._

_"—if you're going to do stuff, use protection—"_

_"—we don't want accidents," my godfather added._

"Beth?" George asked slowly, furrowing his eyebrows.

I stared blankly at the table, realization dawning upon me.

We were idiots.

My godfather seemed to catch on, and he stood up furiously.

In all my life, all the years he raised me, I had never seen him look so angry and so disappointed at me.

There had been many times when I'd gotten in trouble at Muggle primary school. I'd gotten a lecture, and usually some extra chores.

But NEVER had he looked at me that way, like he wished I wasn't his child.

"What the hell is going on?" Fred inquired.

My godfather breathed deeply, looking at me and shaking his head.

"You didn't use protection, did you?"

George's mouth dropped open.

"We did— I swear—"

"No we didn't," I said hoarsely. "We— we didn't. I don't think... we just jumped right into it."

There was complete silence.

Sirius let out a sigh. "Listen, you might not even be pregnant so for now, just take a deep breath and make sure that next time—"

"NO!" My godfather snarled, looking right at me. "Elizabeth Lily Potter I cannot BELIEVE YOU. All this time you're being rude to your mother's memory stating how you don't want to be anything like her and you go make the SAME mistake she did when you PROMISED us you wouldn't? What has gotten into you?"

"I forgot I'm sorry—"

"Sorry doesn't cut it here," he said coldly. "You could be carrying a baby— HIS baby—"

He pointed at George, who was now deathly pale.

"Now Remus," Sirius said. "I think you should calm down—"

"Calm down?" My godfather spat. "They promised us— we TOLD you, you could date. We trusted you. You told us you would be careful, and you weren't—"

"Uncle Remus I'm SORRY—"

"You're not sorry!" My godfather said, glaring at me. "No, you're just ashamed you made a bad choice that might very likely ruin your life! You're taking two NEWTs this year— you still have another year left to graduate! And now you've gone and ruined everything—"

"I MIGHT NOT BE PREGNANT!" I cried. "It's possible—"

"And if you're pregnant, then what?" My godfather said. "You become the laughingstock of your school. The Daily Prophet will never get enough of it! You'll lose your powers because you'll be so weak from birthing a child and you'll either have to drop out or take the baby with you to Hogwarts! You were so eager to join the Order— well we can't afford having a member that's going to make idiotic mistakes and let herself get knocked up—"

"WE DIDN'T DO IT INTENTIONALLY—"

My godfather then turned to George, seething with rage.

"And you," he snarled. "I talked to you individually, I told you I wanted to be able to trust you, I told you that if you wanted to be with my goddaughter you had to be respectful— this isn't showing an OUNCE of respect! You've gone and ruined both your lives!"

"I-I didn't mean to—"

"It's not his fault, I should have noticed—"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO DO IF THERE IS A BABY?" My godfather roared, which only made me certain Ginny and Harry must know what was going on now. "Neither of you have jobs! What will you do, move into the Burrow? Neither of you have given a single thought as to how big of a problem you've caused!"

"REMUS!" Sirius cried. "Calm down, they made a mistake—"

"THEY'VE GONE AND RUINED THEIR LIVES—"

"We don't know for certain—"

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE SMARTER THAN THIS, ELIZABETH—"

"We thought Lily was the smartest in our grade and she still made a mistake— because PEOPLE MAKE MISTAKES, REMUS, THEY DIDN'T DO IT INTENTIONALLY—"

My godfather slammed his empty cup of Butterbeer on the table, looking furiously at Sirius.

"Don't tell me how to react when I find out my goddaughter didn't follow the simple rules I laid out for her—"

"Take a walk, Remus," Sirius said in a low voice, glaring at my godfather. "You need to cool down. NOW."

My godfather didn't even look at me when he stormed out.

Fred was looking fearfully at George and I. George was pale, and his hands were shaking.

"So, you made a mistake," Sirius said slowly. "So we all did. I had sex for the first time during what— fifth year? With a seventh year? I got lucky I didn't knock her up. I didn't use protection, she didn't tell me to— we forgot. Your parents made a mistake, but it resulted in a beautiful daughter who's going to save the world someday. Yeah it was dumb, and may cause a few problems if you ARE pregnant, but you just need to learn to be careful, not just here but in other circumstances in your lives. This doesn't define you. Remus is so worked up because he's afraid for you, because he doesn't want it to affect you. He just wants to keep you safe. He'll be mad for awhile, yes, but as long as you learn and next time use protection, you will be fine."

I had tears streaming down my cheeks now.

"Thank you," I said, shuddering as I breathed out. "I-I'm sorry..."

"And I'm sorry," George said quickly, his face now tinted with red. "I-I should've been more careful too..."

"What's done is done," Sirius said. "For now... don't think about it. Worry about your dad, and if there's a baby, worry about that later."

George looked up. "You... you're not going to tell my parents, are you?"

"I'm not," Sirius said. "And unless we find out you're pregnant, I doubt Remus will."

Then he laughed. "Damn... didn't think we'd be dealing with this problem so soon... I would have thought you'd like to wait."

I blushed and looked down.

"I get it," Sirius said. "After awhile snogging and other little activities aren't enough. It happens."

Fred cleared his throat at this, and Sirius chuckled.

"You be careful too," Sirius said. "I think I'm right when I say you've been doing it for awhile now."

"How—?"

"Don't worry, your mother doesn't know for sure, although she suspects," Sirius said. "You guys are all growing up, we can't really stop you anymore. We practically all did it before graduating. Well maybe except Mad Eye, perhaps that's why he's so cranky—"

We all burst out laughing, the tension in the room lessening.

"Oh god," George said suddenly, covering his face. "What if Ginny and Harry heard...?"

"They can't have," Sirius said simply. "We sound proofed the kitchen. They won't know."

I breathed a sigh of relief, instinctively touching my stomach.

I prayed to God that there was no baby in there.

__________

Fawkes arrived about an hour later with a letter from Mum.

George took it carefully in his hands and read it aloud.

"Dad is still alive. I'm setting out for St Mungo's now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum."

He covered his face, breathing deeply. "Okay," he said softly. "That's good...."

After that we had to wait two days before we could visit Mr Weasley. He was alright, although I could tell Harry was uncomfortable being there, and seeing him hurt.

About five days after, the Hogwarts term ended, and Hermione joined us.

"Hi," she said as she walked in. "Where's Harry?"

"Locked in with Buckbeak again," I sighed. "He's still taking it hard."

"And how are you?"

"Fine," I said, smiling simply.

When she went upstairs, George took my hand and led me to one of the guest rooms below, putting a silencing charm on the room.

"Well?" He asked anxiously. "Do you feel any different?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "No dizziness... no throwing up... I've been pretty normal."

George sighed. "Damn it— Sirius can't leave the house to get the pregnancy test and your godfather hasn't even been around... probably to avoid telling anyone. Who can we ask to bring a test to us?"

"I dunno," I said, wringing my hands together. "Mad Eye we could probably trust to help, but I think he would tell your parents."

"Mundungus knows how to be a sneaky bastard but he lets everything slip—"

"Kingsley hasn't been around in awhile..."

"I don't think it would go well if we cornered Snape after a meeting and told him. He likes you but he HATES me..."

I sighed, sitting down on the bed and covering my face.

"I'm sorry," George said softly. "I-I should have checked. I should have known—"

"This is my fault too, okay?" I said softly. "Don't take the blame."

George wrung his hands together, then slowly wrapped his arms around me.

"We can sneak over to get a test next time we visit Dad," he said.

"Okay," I said, breathing deeply, looking at him and smiling slightly. "Whatever happens, I love you."

He turned pink and smiled. "I love you too, Beth."

He kissed my forehead, and cupped my face in his hands to kiss me firmly on the lips.

I appreciated how calm he was.

Unfortunately, we were not able to visit Mr Weasley again until Christmas, which meant about half a week of George and I praying that I was not pregnant.

You honestly couldn't even tell that we were in Grimmauld Place anymore. Despite the tension, Sirius had been in such a good mood, he helped us clean. Soon the place was spotless, with holly and mistletoe everywhere, gold and silver streamers lining the chandeliers, a Christmas tree Mundungus got, and Father Christmas hats for the stuffed elf heads on the walls in the hallway.

It was nice to see everyone in such a good mood, but it worried me.

What if I was pregnant? How could George and I ruin everyone's happiness by dropping news like that?

I instinctively held my belly, and wondered what the hell was happening inside. Was there nothing? Was there something?

I didn't know, and it scared me.

Christmas morning I woke up to many presents, which included a new book from George and several candies from Fred. The most surprising thing was that my godfather had even gotten me a present— a study guide for NEWTs and a new sweater.

"Reckon he must've cooled down," I muttered to myself as I headed to Harry's room to give him his present.

When I opened the door, Harry came toward me with a strange painting.

"What's this?" I asked.

"From Dobby," he said. "One for you, one for me. I dunno what it's supposed to be...."

I observed the painting and raised my eyebrow. "I really don't know what to make of this...."

I put the painting down and took out a box, handing it to Harry. He opened it to reveal a Chudley Cannons jacket with 'Seeker' on the back.

"Thanks," he said, grinning. Ron whined when he saw the jacket and I pulled out another one very similar to it, but it said 'Keeper.'

"I suck, though," he muttered.

"No you don't, you just need to believe in yourself," I said.

There was a crack and the twins appeared in the room.

"Merry Christmas," George said, coming beside me and kissing my cheek. "Don't go downstairs for a bit."

"Why not?" Ron asked.

"Mum's crying again," Fred sighed. "Percy sent back his Christmas jumper."

"Without a note," George said. "Hasn't asked how Dad is or visited him or anything..."

"Idiot," I hissed. "What did you say to her?"

"Well," George said, scratching his neck, "we said Percy's nothing more than a humongous pile of rat droppings—"

"—didn't work," Fred said. "So Lupin took over. Best let him cheer her up before we go down for breakfast, I reckon."

"My godfather is here?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah," George said, turning pink. "He'd like to talk to you after breakfast."

"Alright," I said slowly.

"What does he want to talk about?" Harry inquired.

"Probably NEWTs," I lied smoothly. "He got me a prep book for it— I bet he's wondering whether or not I can handle it."

There was a beat of silence.

"What's that supposed to be anyway?" Fred asked, pointing at Dobby's painting. I appreciated his efforts to change the subject.

"I have no idea," I said, holding up mine and Harry's paintings.

"Looks like a gibbon with two black eyes," George said. He grabbed Harry's painting and looked at the back. "It's Harry! Says so back here."

"Good likeliness," Fred said with a grin. Harry threw the homework planner Hermione gave hum at Fred, and it trilled "If you've dotted the i's and crossed the t's then you may do whatever you please!"

"Oh Christ," I said, wincing. "Batavia had one of those— they're bloody menaces..."

Harry laughed, and George put his arm around me and we left the room.

George chuckled nervously. "Oh my god he has no idea what happened...."

"No he doesn't," I said, gritting my teeth and trying not to laugh. "He's in for a shocker if...."

"Yeah," George said, blushing slightly. "Yeah... we'll all be in for a shocker..."

When we entered the kitchen, I saw my godfather was no longer inside.

"Where did Uncle Remus go?" I asked Mrs Weasley.

"Oh he had to run," she said simply, her eyes still puffy. "Kingsley said there was some sort of emergency to attend to. Goodness knows what... he might come around for dinner though, so he'll be able to talk to you about your NEWTs."

"Cool," I said. I suppose my godfather had told her he wanted to talk about NEWTs...

When the others came downstairs, we learned that the strange present Hermione was carrying around was for Kreacher.

"It had better not be clothes!" Ron said. "You know what Sirius said, Kreacher knows too much, we can't set him free!"

"It isn't clothes," Hermione said. "Although if I had it my way I'd certainly give him something to wear other than that filthy old rag. No, it's a patchwork quilt. Thought it might brighten up his bedroom."

"Bedroom?" I hissed, getting up and taking everyone's plates to the sink. "Since when has he got a bedroom?"

"Well Sirius says it's not so much a bedroom, more a kind of den," Hermione said. "Apparently he sleeps under the boiler in that cupboard off the kitchen."

I got up and went inside a section of the kitchen we'd never used, and down the stairs into the basement, the others following me.

"So this is Kreacher's bedroom?" Ron asked, going to the corner across from the pantry to where there was a door I'd never seen open.

"Yes," Hermione said, now a bit anxious. "Er... I think we'd better knock..."

I reached my arm out and rapped on the door with my knuckles. There was no reply, so I opened the door.

"Ugh," I said. Kreacher seemed to have made himself some sort of nest with several smelly rags and old blankets puled on the floor. There were bits of cheese and bread crusts laying around mixed with some gold and silver coins and other bits of jewelry. There were small photographs laid by the wall away from the nest. I recognized one to be Draco Malfoy's mother, and one to be Bellatrix Lestrange.

"I think I'll just leave his present here," Hermione decided, dropping the box onto the nest. "He'll find it later, that'll be fine."

There was a knock on the doorframe behind us.

"Hi," Sirius said, poking his head in. "Speaking of Kreacher, had anyone actually seen him lately?"

"I haven't seen him since the other night," Harry said. "You were ordering him out of the kitchen.."

"Yeah..." Sirius said. "You know, I think that's the last time I saw him, too... he must be hiding upstairs somewhere..."

"He couldn't have left, could he?" Harry asked. "I mean when you said 'out' maybe he thought you meant, get out of the house?"

"No, no," Sirius said, "house elves can't leave unless they're given clothes, they're tied to their family's house."

"They can leave the house if they really want to," Harry said. "Dobby did— he left the Malfoy's to give me warnings two years ago. He had to punish himself afterward, but he still managed it."

Sirius shrugged. "I'll look for him later, expect I'll find him upstairs crying his eyes out over my mother's old bloomers or something... of course, he might have crawled into the airing cupboard and died... but I mustn't get my hopes up..."

We all laughed, except Hermione of course, who looked reproachful.

"Oh lighten up," I said, patting her shoulder. "He'll be alive, you'll see..."

She sighed and exited the pantry.

We spent a few hours cleaning the house, and then after lunch hopped into a car Mundungus "borrowed" that had an Enlarging Spell placed on it so that the outside looked normal but the inside fit ten people, including Mundungus, who drove. Mrs Weasley was first against the idea of traveling without magic but after Ginny and the twins insisted, she gave in.

The lobby of St Mungos was decorated quite nicely, which made it feel almost like it was a hotel— except of course it wasn't.

When we walked into Mr Weasley's room, he had a sheepish expression on his face.

"Everything all right, Arthur?" Mrs Weasley asked after we'd given him our presents.

"Fine, fine," he said, a bit too quickly. "You— er— haven't seen Healer Smethwyck, have you?"

"No, why?" Mrs Weasley asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, nothing," Mr Weasley said. "Well, everyone had a good day? What did you all get for Christmas? Oh Harry, Beth, this is absolutely wonderful!"

I smiled as he took out several Muggle trinkets we'd given him in a little box.

"Arthur," Mrs Weasley said, leaning over to check his bandages, "you've had your bandages changed. Why have you had your bandages changes a day early, Arthur? They told me they wouldn't need doing until tomorrow."

"What?" Mr Weasley said, sounding a bit frightened. "No, no— it's nothing— it's— I—"

Mrs Weasley glared at him. I bet if she'd stared at me like that, I'd be spilling my guts to her immediately.

"Well— now don't get upset, Molly," he said, "but Augustus Pye had an idea... he's a Trainee Healer, you know, lovely young chap and very interested in... um... complementary medicine.. I mean, some of those old Muggle remedies... well they're called stitches, Molly, and they work very well on— on Muggle wounds—"

Mrs Weasley let out a noise that was between a shriek, a growl, and a snarl.

"Do you mean to tell me," Mrs Weasley said, slowly, and growing louder with every word, "that you have been messing about with Muggle remedies?"

"Not messing around, Molly, dear," Mr Weasley said. "It was just— just something Pye and I thought we'd try— only, most unfortunately— well, with these particular kinds of wounds— it doesn't seem to work as well as we'd hoped—"

"Meaning?" Mrs Weasley asked in a dangerous tone.

"Well.. well," Mr Weasley stammered, "I don't know whether you know what— what stitches are?"

"It sounds as though you've been trying to sew your skin back together," Mrs Weasley said, with a short laugh, "but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be THAT stupid—"

"I fancy a cup of tea," Fred announced, darting out.

The others followed him immediately, and we exited the room just as Mrs Weasley cried "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA?"

"Typical Dad," Ginny said, shaking her head. "Stitches... I ask you..."

"I need to pee," I said sheepishly, raising my eyebrows at George. "I'll see you in the tearoom— that's the fifth floor, right?"

"Yeah," Harry said, waving. "Don't get lost."

"I'll go with you," George said smoothly. "And wait outside the bathroom..."

"See you," Fred said, winking as he led the others away.

George and I immediately turned the hall and breathed heavily.

"Okay," he said. "Maternity is on the fifth floor too, so we have to beat them there while taking the long way...."

I didn't respond, instead breaking out into a sprint.

We ran up two floors and arrived at the front desk across from the tearoom, seeing the others weren't there yet.

"Yes?" The mediwitch in charge asked.

"I-I need a pregnancy test," I blurted out, looking around frantically.

She blinked and narrowed her eyes at me.

"Elizabeth Potter?" She asked.

"Please don't ask questions," I said nervously. "And don't tell anyone— please, I need to know—"

She looked at George then back at me and waved, leading us down the hall to a room. She drew the curtains and closed the door.

"There's no adult with you?" She inquired.

"We're both seventeen," George said, wringing his hands together.

"Can I ask you to keep this a secret?" I asked nervously as the mediwitch handed me a gown to put on.

"Of course," she said, though I could tell she wanted to know more of the story.

I quickly changed then sat down on the bed. She brought over a gel and applied it tenderly to my belly, then waving her wand over it.

There appeared in the air, an image, looking a lot like a Muggle ultrasound, except it was three dimensional and less blurry.

She looked around, and hummed to herself.

"There isn't anything in there," she said, looking at me. "When did you two...?"

"A week and a half ago," George said immediately.

The mediwitch nodded and murmured another spell, which made the image glow.

"You're not pregnant," she said, which made me sigh in relief.

George got up and came over to me, kissing me firmly on the lips, clasping my hand tightly in his.

"Thank you," I breathed as George pulled away. "Thank you..."

"You're welcome," she said, scribbling on her notepad. "I have to keep record that you were here... but I promise I won't say anything. There are spells... and physical protection that can be used. Might I suggest that next time?"

"Yes yes— thank you," I said, feeling my face burning.

She smiled and tucked the notepad under her arm. "Just change out, toss the gown in the trash bin and leave the curtains closed, so we know to change the sheets."

"I can't tell you how thankful we are," George said, taking out five Galleons and handing them to her. She smiled, and pocketed them, then leaving.

"What were the Galleons for?" I asked.

"Oh these things cost money," he said, turning pink. "I remember Mum and Dad paid after they found out they were having Ginny."

"Ah," I said, nodding. "We hadn't met yet, had we?"

"Not yet," he said, smiling. He took my hand and kissed it. "Okay... we're good... we're good... and we won't make this mistake again..."

I nodded, breathing a sigh of relief as I got up and changed. George observed me, and sucked in air hard.

"Yes?" I inquired.

"Nothing," he said, looking at me and biting his lip.

"Oh come on you can tell me," I said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
  
  


George's POV  
  
  
  


I looked down, taking a deep breath.

How could I hide it from her any longer?

I walked toward her, and took her hands, gazing at ever feature on her face.

She was so beautiful.

"Come on George," she prompted. "I don't like secrets."

"The Mirror of Erised," I blurted out, making her mouth open slightly.

"So you're going to tell me now?" She whispered.

I nodded and looked down.

"When I first looked in, it was just my family," I said. "All of us. Grown up. You weren't there, and at first I thought it was strange. But then you walked in— holding your stomach, which had a bump. Like you were pregnant. Then you'd walked up to me and kissed me full on the lips."

Beth's mouth dropped open.

"At thirteen, I didn't understand what the hell that could mean," I said slowly. "I didn't really understand the whole 'desire' concept. I-I wanted to tell you. But I-I didn't know how you'd react when I revealed that. Because I knew it would basically indicate that my deepest desire was to have a family with you. At that point I didn't even know if you fancied me back— I was just scared you'd think I was weird and never talk to me again."

Beth covered her mouth, her eyes watering.

"Hiding it was a bad choice," I murmured, my lip trembling. "Because it— it caused a lot more problems. When Cedric started talking to you I couldn't help but think... what of his desires? I knew Cedric. He'd never liked a girl as much as he liked you. It worried me— what if our desires came in conflict? What if he desired you more? I-I got jealous. I got confused. I made a horrible mistake when I accused you of cheating, and I will forever thank you for finding it in your heart to forgive me."

She was crying now.

"But now everything is good," I said, taking her hands. "This desire is the realest thing I've ever felt, and for once in my life I feel like I know what my purpose is, I know who I am."

I took her hand, lifting it and tapping the promise ring on her finger.

"I meant it when I said I want to be with you until my dying breath," I said, making her smile, her lips trembling. "I want to marry you, I want to have children with you one day and I... "

She tenderly touched my face.

"I love you so much," I whispered, closing my eyes and holding her palm against my cheek. "I have never, ever been so in love with anyone and I can't imagine starting a family with anyone other than the girl who's been my best friend my entire life."

Beth wiped her eyes, and grabbed my face, kissing me so hard I forgot how to breathe.


	58. Chapter 58

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I haven't told you what's happened in the month and a half we've been back at Hogwarts and I sincerely apologize for it. I've been busy.

As you can probably guess by me not mentioning it— my godfather didn't make it back to have that chat with me about 'NEWTs.' He didn't even come see us off. Tonks said he's just been really stressed. I suppose if she knew why she'd flip her shit.

Luckily, the Mediwitch at St Mungos had kept my visit secret. George and I'd been ecstatic afterward, and I owled my godfather right away.

It's February and I'm still waiting for a reply.

I get why he was so mad, really I do. He knows I'm usually more careful and my new level of stupidity truly astounds him. I understand how worried he is about it all, because he knows I'm slowly growing weaker ever since I started losing my powers.

I just feel like he overreacted... you know?

Anyway, back to Harry— he's had to take extra classes with Snape in order to learn Occlumency. Sirius was not keen on the idea but Dumbledore insisted (through a letter, because the bearded bastard still keeps ignoring Harry and I).

Harry hates it. He really does. He says it's like Snape is me, but malicious, and searching through his mind for details that will serve as blackmail. Harry and Cho recently decided their relationship simply wasn't working and I know all Harry's thought about is the kiss she gave him after the Defense Meeting at the end of the term, which Snape has to have seen by now.

Apparently, Snape's techniques in order to teach him how to block his mind include abusing his privacy and looking through memories Harry has. Harry said Snape now knows about his recurring dreams regarding the Department of Mysteries, which has led to tension.

About half a month ago, there was an Azkaban breakout. Infamous Death Eaters like Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange are at large again, and the fear in the school had risen significantly. Attacks have begun to happen on Muggles and other wizard populations across the country, which is leading to everyone starting to believe I may be telling the truth about Voldemort being back.

Hermione used this to her advantage. Today, she's forcing me to ditch a mandatory Quidditch practice in order to meet with Rita Skeeter in Hogsmeade to tell the public every last detail of what happened in the graveyard, and to make a statement about Voldemort's return. The interview is to be published in the Quibbler— a newspaper run by sweet little Luna Lovegood's father.

"Hermione I swear, if Angelina kills me for ditching I will KICK YOU under the bus."

"She needs to understand there are things more important than Quidditch," Hermione said, dismissively waving her hand in the air.

"Hermione I haven't played Seeker in ages and we have a game next Saturday."

"You're a Potter, it's a natural talent for you."

"You REALLY don't understand Quidditch, do you?"

"And I don't care to."

I rolled my eyes as she pulled my arm. We passed by the Three Broomsticks, and I saw Bixby, Katie, Batavia, and Oliver Wood on a double date. I smiled, since Oliver had taken time off to visit Batavia today— Valentine's Day, and her birthday.

It was always strange for the twins to tell people they were born on Valentine's Day. They hated it— and felt it was the sappiest and most unnecessary holiday in the history of mankind.

I don't disagree.

"So," Rita said, looking over at me from her glasses once she'd pulled out her notepad and that awful acid green quill that had once spouted lies about me. "You actually stick to it, do you, that He Who Must Not Be Named is back? You stand by all the garbage Dumbledore's been telling everybody about You Know Who returning and you being the sole witness—"

"First of all," I said irritably. "It's not garbage. Second of all, I really REALLY wasn't the sole witness because there were a dozen Death Eaters there as well."

"I'd love their names," Rita said with a short giggle and a cheeky smile. "Ah...a great bold headline....'Potter Accuses'....a subjeading, 'Elizabeth Potter Names Death Eaters Still Among Us'....'disturbed teenage survivor of You Know Who's attack, Elizabeth Potter, 17, caused outrage yesterday by accusing respectable and prominent members of the Wizarding community of being Death Eaters...'" Rita said almost with malicious content. She then stopped.

"But of course, Little Miss Perfect wouldn't want that story out there, would she?" Rita asked, looking at Hermione.

"As a matter of fact," Hermione said with Umbridge style sweetness, "that's exactly what she wants."

Rita let out a strangled hiss, and looked around at George, Harry, and Ron, who were sitting by me.

"You WANT me to report what she says about You Know Who?" Rita asked in a quiet hiss.

"Yep. The true story. Every fact just as Elizabeth reports them. She'll give you all the details and the names, she'll tell you what Voldemort looks like now—" Hermione said.

Rita flinched.

"Oh get a grip of yourself," I snapped.

Rita looked uncertainly at Hermione.

"The Prophet wouldn't print it. In case you haven't noticed, nobody believes her cock and bull story. Everyone thinks she's delusional. Now if you let me write the story from THAT angle—"

"We don't need another story about her losing her marbles! We want the truth," Hermione demanded.

"Fudge is leaning on the Prophet," Rita said silkily. "It comes to the same thing— they won't print a story that shows Elizabeth in a good light. Nobody wants to read it, it's against the public mood. The last Azkaban breakout has got people worried enough. They just don't want to believe You Know Who's back."

"So the Prophet exists to tell people what they want to hear, does it?" I said scathingly.

"It exists to sell itself, silly girl," Rita said flatly.

"My dad thinks it's an awful paper," Luna said dreamily. "He publishes more important stories that he thinks the public needs to know without caring about making money. "

Rita stared at her irritably.

"I'm guessing he runs some stupid little village newsletter? 25 Ways to Mingle with Muggles and the dates of the next Bring a Fly Sale?" Rita asked in a taunting tone.

"No, he's the editor of the Quibbler," Luna said.

Rita snorted.

"Important stories he thinks the public needs to know? I could manure my garden with the contents on that rag!" Rita said. Luna stared at her indignantly.

"Well this is your chance to raise the tone of it a bit, isn't it? Luna's father is quite happy to take Harry's interview. The Quibbler will be publishing it," Hermione announced. Rita burst into laughter again.

"The Quibbler!" Rita cackled, "you think people will take her seriously if she's published in the Quibbler?"

"Some people might not," Hermione said sternly, "but many people want a better explanation of what happened. If there's an alternative story available— even if it's published in the Quibbler— I think they might be keen to read it."

Rita stared at Hermione long and hard.

"Let's say I do it," Rita said abruptly, "what fee am I going to get?"

"Daddy doesn't exactly pay people to write for the magazine. They do it because of the honor," Luna said dreamily.

"I'm supposed to do this for free?" Rita snarled.

"I'll pay you if you're so needy," I said flatly.

"If you don't do it," Hermione said menacingly, "I will inform authorities that you're an unregistered Animagus. The Prophet might even give you a lot for an insider's account on life in Azkaban," Hermione said. I snorted and Rita stared at us both like she wanted to stab us with her quill.

"Don't suppose I've got any choice, have I?" Rita asked angrily. Hermione smirked at her.

"Daddy will be pleased," Luna sighed.

Rita looked at me and sighed. "Fine. Tell me the basic details... as gruesome as you'd like."

"Thanks," I mumbled, taking a deep breath. "we'll start where Cedric and I arrived at the center of the maze."

Rita eagerly waited for me to speak.

"Cedric and I had agreed to take the cup together, since we were both of Hogwarts," I said. "But when we touched it, we appeared in a strange place. We right away determined it was a graveyard, but we couldn't tell where it was. Cedric noted that perhaps this was part of the task, since the maze hadn't been all too difficult compared with our expectations. Despite my statements about how I had a bad feeling about the place, Cedric urged us to explore. We didn't get to do much, because at that moment Wormtail— Peter Pettigrew— stepped out and killed him. His body flew into the air and landed beside where I was standing, and his eyes were wide open."

Rita even looked shocked as the quill wrote down what I'd said.

"From there I went hysterical," I admitted. "Wormtail started the process of bringing Voldemort back while I was tied up on the floor, facing Cedric. When my contribution came, Wormtail cut a deep gash in my arm... right here..." I pointed at a long, jagged scar on my forearm "and dripped the blood into the cauldron. Voldemort came out. He was skeletal... deathly pale... with slits for a nose— like a snake. His eyes were red and he looked... exactly like how he looked when I saw him... fourteen years ago."

Hermione covered her face. Luna was staring blankly at me.

"Then the Death Eaters were called... I vividly remember Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Macnair, Nott, being called by their name. Voldemort said something to almost all of them... including those who weren't there. He said the Lestranges should be there. Then he started talking about his downfall and how he hadn't expected my... my mother's sacrifice to protect Harry and ultimately ruin his physical body that night. He said his ultimate plan was to get Harry but he would use me for it. He tried to seduce me when I was thirteen— so I would join his side and my brother would lose my protection. And when that didn't work he planned to make me sacrifice myself for him so I no longer had powers and would no longer be able to keep Harry safe."

Harry looked guilty, his face pale.

"Then he tortured me," I continued, shivering slightly. "Tried to get me to join him. When that didn't work he demanded we duel. He was too quick, and kept overpowering me with Curses. That's when I felt some of my power come back. The emotions I'd had churning in me after watching Cedric die stopped me from using my powers. But when I felt them again I turned invisible and tried to hide, desperately trying to figure out what to do. I started to fight him with my powers... transforming and summoning things. I was so full of adrenaline— Power I'd never had before. I formed what was like.. a tornado. And I was fighting him. He was yelling at me to give up, saying he would kill my brother anyway. That's... when it got weird."

Rita silently looked at me, waiting for me to continue.

"There was this big burst of light and sound waves from me— from under my skin. It hit the Death Eaters— wounding them... and killing one, Macnair. I didn't mean to. It wasn't my intention to. When one Death Eater announced he was dead... I summoned Cedric and the cup back into my hands and the next thing I knew, I was back."

There was complete silence around the table, and six pairs of fearful eyes staring back at me.

"So that's it," I said softly. "That's what happened. I'm telling the truth. That is how Cedric died. That is how Voldemort came back."

________

"It's here— it's HERE!"

Batavia's screaming made me jump, and drop my spoon entirely into my bowl of porridge.

"gee thanks," I said irritably. "What's here?"

"The Quibbler!" She cried, which made everyone around me look up. "Listen! ' ** _Elizabeth Potter speaks out at last: The truth about He Who Must Not Be Named and the night I saw him return_** '."

"Oh wow," I mumbled, taking the newspaper and beginning to read it. I skimmed through it and realized Rita had written my story word for word as I'd told it.

"It's good, isn't it?" Luna Lovegood said happily from behind me, squeezing between George and I to sit down. George raised his eyebrow slightly and shrugged. "It came out yesterday, I asked Dad to send you a free copy, Elizabeth. I expect all these other letters are from readers."

"Other letters?" I cried.

I turned and saw that behind Batavia, Bixby was holding an enormous stack of letters.

"Oh bloody hell," I murmured.

"Do you mind if we open them?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"Help yourself," I murmured, still perplexed.

Both sets of twins, Luna, Hermione, Harry, and Ron began tearing open the letters.

"This one reckons you're off your rocker," Fred said. "Ah, well."

"This woman recommends you try a good course of Shock Spells at St Mungo's," Hermione said solemnly.

"This one says she believes you!" Ron said, waving one of the letters in the air.

"This one's in two minds," George said, shaking his head. "Says you don't come across as a mad person, but he really doesn't want to believe You Know Who's back so he doesn't know what to think now... Blimey what a waste of parchment..."

"This one is convinced now!" Luna said enthusiastically. "'Having read your side of the story I am forced to the conclusion that the Daily Prophet treated you very unfairly... Little though I want to think that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned, I am forced to accept that you are telling the truth'. Oh how wonderful!"

"This one also thinks you're barking," Ron said, crumpling up a letter. "But THIS one says you've got her converted, and now she thinks you're a real hero— she's put in a photograph too."

"Maybe she made you a shrine," George said with a smirk. "Now listen to this one! Miss Potter—"

"What is going on here?" A girlish voice said from behind us. I turned and saw Umbridge glaring down at us.

"We're reading," I said firmly.

"Why have you got all these letters, Miss Potter?" She asked slowly, scowling at the large pile in front of me.

"Is that a crime now?" George asked scathingly. "Getting mail?"

"Be careful, Mr Weasley, or I shall have to put you in detention," she said coldly. "Well, Miss Potter?"

I considered lying but decided against it.

"People have written to me because I gave an interview," I said boldly. "About what happened to me last June."

"An interview?" Umbridge said, her voice cracking slightly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean a reporter asked me questions and I answered them," I said, grabbing a letter out of the pile and tearing it open, then handing it to her roughly. She sneered at me then look down at the paper, her face turning red with rage.

"When did you do this?" She asked, her voice trembling.

"Last Hogsmeade weekend," I said flatly. George smirked beside me.

"There will be no more Hogsmeade trips for you, Miss Potter," she whispered. "How you dare... how you could..." She took a deep breath, looking at me with the uttermost loathing. "I have tried again and again to teach you not to tell lies—"

"Oh, but this isn't a lie, is it?" I said sweetly. "I'm telling the truth."

Umbridge's nostrils flared ragefully. "The message apparently hasn't sunk in for you. You dare contradict me— I cannot believe...." She breathed deeply again. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and another week's worth of detentions for you. And because of your impertinence— you are banned from playing Quidditch as well!"

There was an uproar.

"You can't ban her!" George spat, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"I will have to ask you to stop touching her, Mr Weasley, intimacy isn't allowed—"

George boldly turned me around, pulling me onto his lap and snogged me so firmly my chest nearly exploded.

When I pulled away, I noticed the entire Great Hall was staring in amusement at Umbridge.

Umbridge breathed heavily. "Detention for you too, Mr Weasley!"

Then, clutching the Quibbler tightly to her chest, she stalked away.

Harry smirked, which made me feel relieved. Several students clapped lightly once Umbridge left the room, and I blushed crimson.

"Goddamn you," I hissed to George, smiling. "You should kiss me like that more often."

"Mmm meet me Friday night and we will," he whispered in my ear before getting up, tossing his bookbag over his shoulder, and walking away.

________

By the next morning Umbridge had banned the Quibbler, saying that anyone caught with it would be expelled.

"This is incredible," Hermione said, smirking at the sign for 'Educational Decree Number Twenty Seven.' "If she could have done anything to make it absolutely sure that every single person in this school will read your interview, it was banning it! Now those who didn't know about it will want to see WHY the Quibbler was banned— and since the majority of this school despises her they'll do the opposite of what she says!"

Hermione's theory was correct. By the end of that school day, people were quoting the Quibbler left and right and whispering when brief 'thank you's to me in the halls.

"I think they believe you," Batavia said happily, beaming as we passed a group of Hufflepuffs that were smiling in my direction, "I think you've finally got them convinced!"

Convinced or not, Umbridge was still tracking them. She was constantly asking us to turn out our pockets and produce copies. She'd gone to me first in front of everyone in the Great Hall, but unbeknownst to her I cast a charm on the article that made it appear like simple school parchment and notes. A couple of seventh years saw that and asked how I managed to slip past her when they'd seen me with the copy of the Quibbler earlier. I taught them the charm and soon, practically the whole school had done it.

It seemed even the teachers felt that Umbridge wasn't going to stop them from expressing their views. Professor Sprout gave me twenty points for Gryffindor when he simply passed her a watering can during a lab. Professor Flitwick slipped me some sugar mice at the end of class after handing Bixby his share as part of his work as a Professor's Assistant.

Luna had announced at dinner later that week that her father was reprinting because of how popular the article was, which only ensured that quite a lot of the people in the wizarding community had at least laid eyes on the article.

The party that occurred at the end of the week had so much food I was sure I wouldn't need to eat for days. Somehow, Fred and George had charmed my picture from the Quibbler to say comical things like "the Ministry are morons" and "Eat dung, Umbridge."

"Oh you guys," I said, giggling as George bear hugged me and kissed my neck.

"Ah this week has been horrid but so worth it," he said, flashing me his very red hand from detention.

"You didn't have to get yourself landed in there," I reminded him.

"Oh but I wanted to," he said with a grin, kissing me again.

Angelina had walked up to me later that night to announce that Ginny had taken my place as Seeker and that Alicia had been added in as a Chaser. I was glad to hear this, although I could tell she was very sad I'd succeeded in getting myself banned along with the twins and Harry.

At the end of the night once most people had gone home, George came closer to me, and smirked, winking at me.

"I promised you some good snogging on Friday night," he said in a sing song voice. "Guess what night it is..."

"Friday night?" I asked playfully, smirking as he nodded and pulled me close to his chest, caressing my face.

"I have protection," he whispered.

"Oh you do?" I replied, slowly snaking my hands down to his hips.

"I do," he said. "Do you have a place in mind?"

"Katie's drunk and sleeping with Bixby," I said with a grin. "Batavia, Katie, and Leanne are at a sleepover with a few Ravenclaw girls...."

"Oh so your dorm is available?" He mumbled, stroking my hair.

"It is," I said, grinning as I grabbed his hand.

_______

Apparently Umbridge's fury had extended further after my detention ended.

It would seem that after not being able to torture me anymore, she felt the need to turn her anger on someone else.

So she did. On Professor Trelawney, half a week after.

We were all walking to Gryffindor Tower after dinner one night when we heard a scream.

"What the hell?" I asked.

Someone screamed again.

"Somethings wrong," Batavia said as whipped around, listening intently.

We ran back the way the sound was coming, my heart beating fast. What was going on?

A Professor I didn't recognize was standing in the middle of the entrance hall, looking quite angry, while Umbridge stood over her, satisfied.

"That's Professor Trelawney!" Bixby said.

"Oh!" I cried, covering my mouth.

"No!" Trelawney shrieked, "This can't be happening! I refuse to accept it!"

"You didn't realize this was coming?" Umbridge asked in her cruel girly voice. "Incapable though you are of predicting tomorrow's weather, you must surely have realized that your pitiful performance during my inspections and lack of any improvement would make it inevitable you would be sacked?"

"You can't," Trelawney moaned, "I've been here sixteen years, this is my home!"

"It was your home!" Umbridge trilled, "until an hour ago when the Minister countersigned the order for your dismissal. Now kindly remove yourself from this hall. You're embarrassing us."

I made a move to go and defend Trelawney, but someone pushed me back.

McGonagall pushed me right into George's arms then strode boldly to Trelawney's side.

"Get up, Sybill," she demanded. "You're not leaving."

Umbridge let out a girly laugh.

"Oh really, Professor McGonagall? And your authority for that statement is...?" Umbridge asked.

"That would be mine," Dumbledore said as he walked in on the scene from behind Umbridge, making us all turn in his direction.

"Yours, Professor Dumbledore?" Umbridge asked with a cruel laugh. "I'm afraid you don't understand the position I have here. An Order of Dismissal signed by myself and he Minister under Education Decree Number Twenty three allows me to sack any teacher I feel isn't performing up to the standard required by the Ministry. Professor Trelawney is not up to scratch and I've dismissed he!"

"Ah yes you have every right to dismiss my teachers but you can't send then away from the castle. That power resides in me and so Professor Trelawney will continue to live at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said firmly.

I breathed a sigh of relief when McGonagall led Trelawney away from the center of the hall.

Umbridge stared nastily at Dumbledore.

"Well what are you going to do with the teacher when I appoint a new one that needs her lodgings?" Umbridge asked in a quiet hiss.

"Not a problem, I already found a new teacher and he will prefer lodgings on the ground flood," Dumbledore said.

Umbridge looked like she'd been slapped.

"YOU'VE found? Might I remind you that—"

"—the Ministry has the right to appoint a suitable candidate only if the Headmaster is unable to find one. And I am happy to say that on this occasion I have succeeded. May I introduce you?" Dumbledore asked, turning to the front doors. A centaur came in.

"This is Firenze. I think you'll find him suitable," Dumbledore said brightly to a thunderstruck Umbridge.

I gaped at him, then at Dumbledore, then at Umbridge.

Umbridge looked about ready to explode. Students began to depart as Dumbledore smiled and led Fireze away. Umbridge stood at the center of the entrance hall, looking downright furious.

She turned on her heel and began coming our way.

"We should go," Batavia said, quickly heading back up to Gryffindor Tower. Umbridge walked right past us, glaring daggers at George and I, then strutting away with her head held high.

"Is it just me, or did that look mean 'I'll kill you later'?" George murmured.

I laughed lightly.

"We are soooo dead..."


	59. Chapter 59

Had it not been for the DA lessons I got to teach, I think I would have died of boredom.

It was fun to teach the classes— it let me take my mind off Umbridge for a minute and focus on just doing magic, which was something I lived.

We had finally begun working on Patronuses, which I felt alleviated a lot of my stress.

Lately, Umbridge had been putting people in detention for hardly any reason at all.

Lee had coughed too loudly during a mock exam. She claimed he was attempting to distract others and sent him right into detention.

And she'd finally gotten to Harry too. After one particular lesson where she's remarked something about how Voldemort wasn't truly back, Harry had retorted that he was.

Now we have identical scars, for the first time ever.

In case you can't tell, I'm really stressed.

Not only that— but my NEWTs are coming up for Potions and Transfiguration. It's bad enough dealing with Umbridge. But Snape, already fed up with teaching Harry Occlumency, is starting to snap more at us too. And McGonagall, bless her soul, is so wound up with the idiotic policies that Umbridge is implementing, that she's become stricter.

School is much less enjoyable than it used to be.

"Oooh it's so pretty," Batavia cried out suddenly, making me snap back to reality and the Patronuses.

I gazed at the Patronus that has burst from her wand and smile.

Of course she'd get a bird.

Batavia giggled and looked at me. "I think I'd like to name it."

"If you name it Oliver—"

"She can't," Bixby cut in, trotting over to show me his rather impressive tiger. "It's a girl."

"Don't get technical," Batavia whined, kneeling down as his tiger came over.

"Remember, they're not simply supposed to be pretty," Harry said to all those who had succeeded in making a corporeal Patronus. "They're supposed to protect you. What we really need in a Boggart or something, that's how I learned. I had to conjure a Patronus while the Boggart was pretending to be a Dementor."

He probably heard us talking about how pretty they were.

"Well," I said, coming over to him and leaning on his shoulder, "not everyone's greatest fear would be a Dementor, would it? I mean, mine wasn't."

"Then I'll just stand in front of the Boggart while you lot practice," Harry said with a grin.

"Sacrificing yourself for them like you did for me? Adorable."

"I need to make up for what I did that time," he said quietly, making me sigh.

"It's been years," I said, raising my eyebrow. "You've been fairly supportive since then. Besides, we're siblings— we will still fight from time to time."

Harry looked down and for a brief minute pulled me away from the crowd.

"You're losing your powers," he said softly. "And I'm not ready for when they disappear. I-I've stressed you out several times— to the point where I caused you to lose them. And I'm sorry. This is... partly my fault."

"Oh don't be absurd," I said, waving my hand in the air. "It really wasn't your fault, okay? Those little times when we fought that I got emotional were nothing compared to what happened with Cedric. That's what really did it."

Harry frowned.

"Harry, Beth, I think I'm doing it!" Seamus Finnigan yelled from across the room, making us both turn.

After a lot of insisting, Dean Thomas had convinced him to put aside his beliefs against me and the whole 'Voldemort returned' thing and just come. It also helped that Seamus read Rita's article.

"Look— ah, it's gone," Seamus sighed right as we walked up. "But it was definitely something hairy!"

"They're typically mammals, from what I can tell," I said, patting Seamus' shoulder as he tried again.

"They are sort of nice, aren't they?" Hermione agreed once I came around as a silvery otter fluttered around her.

"That's cute," I said, giggling as I kneeled down to stroke the otter's back as it passed me.

"I've done it!" Ron cried, grinning from ear to ear as a Jack Russel terrier bounced around.

It barked and went over to the otter, who trilled, and the two Patronuses began playing what I can assume was their version of tag.

I looked up and saw Hermione blushing.

"Hmm," I said, smirking.

"Shut up," she hissed, and playfully smacked my shoulder.

"Okay," I replied, still smirking as I went over to where the twins and Lee were struggling.

"I don't know why I still can't do it," Lee sighed miserably, sitting down as Fred and George tried once more.

"Well what memory are you using?" I inquired.

"Er— I tried the time my sister was born, that made me really happy," Lee said. "And a whisp did come out."

"How old were you when that happened?"

"About four."

"Well," I said, laughing lightly, "that's a happy memory yes, but not strong enough because you hardly remember it."

"Ah," Lee said. "Well— more recent...."

"How about the time you and Alicia snogged at that party we had to celebrate Beth's article?" Fred asked.

George winked to me as Lee turned beet red.

"I'm sure that'd be a good memory," I said, feeling my cheeks grow hot.

George and I hadn't done it since then.

Lee furrowed his brows and stared fixedly at the wall. "Expecto Patronum!"

A small cloud of grey appeared, and it seemed to take a more solid form.

"Try again," I encouraged as George came over and wrapped his arms around me.

Lee bit his lip. "Expecto Patronum!"

"Yes!" I cried.

The silvery cloud became larger, and within seconds took the form of a crocodile.

"Pretty cool, mate," Fred said, wiping sweat off his forehead.

"Don't tell me you two haven't gotten yours yet?" I asked, looking at Fred then tapping George's arm.

"Oh we have," George said, squeezing me tighter. "Fred's just sad his is lamer than Lee's and mine."

"Let's see, Fred," I said, grinning.

Fred rolled his eyes and slashed his wand through the air.

When a small coyote burst out, George and Lee roared with laughter.

"That's so cute!" I cried, smacking George's arm. "It's badass Fred, trust me."

George then took his arms away from me and pulled up his sleeves.

"Allow me to demonstrate," he said, smirking.

He raised his wand. "Expecto Patronum!"

I staggered back in shock.

"That means you're soulmates, right?" Fred asked, still looking glum.

"I-I think— well— I don't—"

I couldn't even begin to form words.

George's Patronus was a hippopotamus just like mine— except of course his looked far more masculine.

I slowly took out my wand and cast the spell. My hippopotamus burst out and made a small whining noise before going up to George's and nuzzling its nose.

"Now that's adorable!" Angelina squealed as she and Alicia ran over. "Wow you two really are meant to be."

"Mhm," George said, coming over and wrapping his arm around me.

I wish we'd had more time to take in the moment.

The door burst open, and I instinctively whipped around, my wand raised.

"Hi Dobby," I Harry say. Seconds later I saw my brother approach the small house elf. "What are you—"

"Dobby?" I called out, going over to them quickly. "What's wrong?"

"Maybe he just wanted to visit," Harry said immediately.

Judging from the look on Dobby's face, this was no casual visit.

The entire room went silent.

"Harry Potter sir..." Dobby said, trembling, "Elizabeth Potter... miss... Dobby has come to warn you... but the house elves have been warned not to tell..."

Dobby ran head first into a wall, and I covered my mouth. Harry seized him and pulled him back.

"What's happened, Dobby?" He asked, his lips trembling.

I looked around at everyone. "Stay calm and line up at the door, now."

Everyone nodded and did as I said, and just then Dobby let out a soft wail.

"Harry Potter!" Dobby squeaked. "She... she..."

"Who's she?" I asked, my voice slightly high pitched. "Umbridge?"

Dobby nodded, then tried to bang his head on Harry's knee.

"What about her?" Harry asked. "Dobby.. she hasn't found out about this— about the DA?"

Dobby didn't answer, but gazed at Harry, terrified.

"Is she coming?" I whispered.

Dobby howled, beating his bare feet on the floor. "Yes, Elizabeth Potter, yes!"

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry yelled at the DA members. "RUN!"

Immediately people began to bolt out the door, still in the line.

"Don't try and make it all the way to your Common Rooms!" I screamed. "Go somewhere nearer!"

"Harry, Beth, come on!" Hermione cried from the door.

"I'm waiting until everyone leaves," I cried, feeling my heart thumping hard in my chest.

"Me too," Harry said. "Everyone has to leave before we do."

"No!" I cried. "Harry you leave now, okay? I can turn invisible— she won't catch me!"

Harry looked afraid.

"DO IT!" I screamed, feeling my toes tingle.

A small ring of energy burst out, causing Harry to jump as it burned his skin.

He nodded slowly, stepping away from me, his eyes watering.

"Dobby— this is an order," Harry said, his voice cracking. "Get back down to the kitchen with the other elves and, if she asks you whether you warned me, lie and say no! I forbid you from hurting yourself."

"Thank you, Harry Potter!" Dobby squeaked as he Disapparated.

"You still have time," I said, summoning the Invisibility Cloak and pushing it into his hands. "Cover anyone you can."

He nodded and ran.

When I turned around I saw only George was in the room.

"What are you still doing here?" I cried.

"I'm not leaving you!" He cried.

"George you need to go," I cried, grabbing his arm and taking him to the doorway. "Please—"

"Beth I'm not letting you go alone—"

"George please—"

"Beth no—"

"PLEASE!"

Another ring burst out, cracking with electricity as it collided with George and made him hiss.

He looked up at me, his eyes wide.

I staggered back, staring at my hands.

"Go—" I croaked. "Please—"

"No, you're going to hurt yourself, and I'm not going to leave you alone," he said firmly. I could see the skin on his arm turning red from where I'd burned him.

My eyes widened as he grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room, running.

"George please go on your own," I cried, seeing Slytherins coming down around the hall.

"Not a chance," he said, yanking me sharply around a corner.

We had just made it around another hall when I felt my feet hit something hard. George and I both yelled, and slid on the floor.

I felt my body slam hard against a wall, and let out a soft cry.

"Trip Jinx, Potter and Weasley!" Malfoy spat, then coming around the corner. "PROFESSOR!I've got two—"

He gazed at me.

"What's the matter with her?" He asked George, taking a step back, his voice cracking.

George looked at me, his eyes wide.

I looked down at my hands, and saw that all around me were small rings of energy, bursting out— not big enough to burn anyone, but big enough that they were making me glow strangely.

George lunged forward and took my hands, hissing as the energy burned him.

"Beth look at me and calm down or you're going to lose your powers right here, right now," he said, clasping my hands so tightly I let out a pained sob.

"Is she dying?" Malfoy asked, looking horrified.

"She's just too emotional," George said with unnatural softness directed to Malfoy. "Beth take a deep breath—"

George then turned to Malfoy.

"She's not okay," he said, swallowing hard. "Please leave her here— take me to Umbridge, I'll take it— but she needs to get somewhere safe and calm down before she loses her powers—"

Malfoy looked between George and I, and I could tell he considered it.

"F-Fine," he gasped, making my heart leap. "Both of you— get out— I'll—"

"It's them!" Umbridge trilled happily as she came around the corner, making Malfoy swallow the rest of his words. "Excellent, Draco, oh very good! Fifty points to Slytherin. I'll take them from here. Stand up, Potter and Weasley!"

"She's hurt," George said immediately, helping me up. "She needs to calm down— Professor—"

"Professor," Malfoy said, making Umbridge snap her head in his direction. "I-I don't think P-Potter is well enough—"

"Not my problem," Umbridge said, narrowing her eyes at Malfoy. "Follow me, Potter, Weasley."

"G-George d-didn't do anything," I cried, wringing my hands together as the rings of energy started bursting out more frequently. "Professor—"

Umbridge pushed George out of the way and gripped my arm. "Get over—"

When she'd grabbed me, I'd been so shocked another ring had burst out, crackling so loudly with all the sound and electricity it carried that it burst out quickly and sliced across Umbridge's hand, causing her to roar and let go of me. 

Malfoy's eyes were wide as saucers as George stepped between Umbridge and I, shielding me.

"Insolent brat," Umbridge snarled, holding her burned hand. She took out her wand swiftly and cast a shield around herself. "Follow me NOW."

"Professor—" Malfoy began.

"You hop along and see if you can round up any more of them, Draco," Umbridge said gleefully, although from the sneer she gave I could tell she was still in pain. "Tell the others to look in the library— anybody out of breath— check the bathrooms, Miss Parkinson can do the girls' ones. Off you go. And you—" she looked at us with a soft expression, her voice dangerous, "you can come with me to the Headmaster's office. And I believe, Elizabeth Potter, that this burn will give the Minister reason enough to expel you."

_______

"Fizzing Whizbee," Umbridge sang as we got to the office. Inside were Dumbledore, McGonagall, Cornelius Fudge, Kingsley Shacklebolt, a wizard I think was named Dawlish, and Percy Weasley.

George pulled free of Umbridge's grasp and put his arm around me.

"Merlin's beard," Fudge said, looking at me curiously. "What is the matter with her?"

"Same thing that happened to her when she watched You Know Who come back," George snapped, making McGonagall's expression soften. "She's losing her powers as we speak."

Fudge looked at the rings still leaving my body and looked up at Umbridge.

"They were together, heading back to Gryffindor Tower," Umbridge said. "The Malfoy boy cornered them."

"Did he, did he?" Fudge asked. "I must remember to tell Lucius..."

Fudge looked at me with a pained expression. "I expect you both know why you're here."

"No," George said immediately.

Confused, I looked up, and at Dumbledore, who was shaking his head ever so slightly.

Ah.

"I beg your pardon?" Fudge asked.

"No," George said again. "We don't know why we're here."

"Miss Potter?" Fudge asked icily.

"I-I don't know what—" I said, hissing as I felt my own skin burning. "I don't know what the hell she brought us here for."

"We were heading to the Hospital Wing," George added. "Beth was having a panic attack and started bursting out... the rings you see."

There was brief silence.

"So neither of you know why you're here?" Fudge asked.

"I certainly don't," George said, which I nodded to.

Fudge looked incredulously at us, then at Umbridge. I looked at Dumbledore again. He nodded ever so slightly and winked quickly.

"So you have no idea," Fudge said slowly with a hint of sarcasm, "why Professor Umbridge has brought you to this office? You are not aware that you have broken any school rules?"

"School rules?" George asked. "I'll admit I've broken them before but not recently, no."

"Or Ministry Decrees?" Fudge asked, clearly irritated.

"Not that I'm aware of," I said, trying to stay as calm as possible.

"You broke the rule of attacking a teacher," Umbridge snarled sharply, flashing the burn I'd given her.

"That's what the rings do," George snapped, showing his burn as it swelled. I felt guilty. "Why do you think we needed to see Madam Pomfrey? You stopped us. Beth didn't mean to hurt you."

This seemed believable for Dawlish and even Percy. He looked incredibly worried.

McGonagall was watching us, concern within her furrowed brows. Kingsley was nodding his head ever so slightly.

"So it's news to you, is it?" Fudge asked, "than an illegal student organization has been discovered within this school?"

"Yes it is," George said. "I'm a troublemaker, Minister, but I don't do anything that's illegal."

I could tell Percy had the urge to scoff, but he surprisingly didn't.

"I think, Minister," Umbridge said, "we might make better progress if I fetch our informant."

"Yes, yes do, please," Fudge said.

I balled my fists up, and George immediately moved to grab a chair, sitting me down. He cupped my face in his hand, ignoring the burns I was giving him.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"N-No," I cried. "It—it's starting to burn me."

He took my hands and opened them, and gasped.

"Merlin," McGonagall gasped, coming over.

The rings stopped bursting out for a brief moment as I looked down at my hands.

They were covered in blood, and they smelled like burning flesh.

"Take a deep breath," George said, holding my wrists gently to stop my hands from shaking. "Now."

I breathed deeply, feeling tightness in my chest.

"I don't understand," Fudge said aloud.

"Minister, if I may?" Kingsley said. "I heard Alastor talk about it to another man."

"Alastor Moody?" Fudge inquired.

"Yes," Kingsley said, straightening up. "He theorized her emotions caused her to burst out power in the form of sound and light waves, and since that day she'd begun losing them. It—it's what the Mediwizard said killed... Macnair that night. The burns the energy rings make are powerful enough to go under the skin and cause internal bleeding. That is why Madam Umbridge and Mr Weasley have swollen wrists— and why she is bleeding now, and why Macnair was killed. She cannot control this, and it hurts her as much as it hurts them."

Fudge, for a brief second, looked at my bloody hands, then at me, riddled with concern.

But he didn't get a chance to say anything, because at that minute Umbridge returned with Marietta Edgecombe, Cho Chang's friend, another Ravenclaw in my year. She was looking down, straight at the floor.

"Don't be scared, dear, don't be frightened," Umbridge said softly, clutching her burned wrist. "It's quite all right, now. You have done the right thing. The Minister is very pleased with you. He'll be telling your mother what a good girl you've been."

More like what a rat she's been, I thought. I never had trusted Marietta.

"Marietta's mother, Minister," Umbridge said, looking at Fudge, "is Madam Edgecombe from the Department of Magical Transportation, Floo Network office. She's been helping us police the Hogwarts fires, you know."

"Jolly good, jolly good," Fudge said. "Like mother, like daughter, eh? Well, come on now, dear, look up, don't be shy, let's head what you've got to— galloping gargoyles!"

Fudge had jumped back the instant Marietta raised her head. Marietta wailed and pulled the neck of her robes up to her eyes, but by then everyone in the room had seen how disfigured her face was.

A close set of purple pustules had spread across her nose and cheeks, spelling out the word "SNEAK" in bold, capital letters.

George looked at me for a brief second.

That was indeed because of the hex I'd placed on the list.

If I wasn't so distressed, I'd have smiled.

"Never mind the spots now, dear," Umbridge hissed impatiently. "Just take your robes away from your mouth and tell the Minister."

Marietta shook her head, pulling the robes even further up.

"Oh very well, you silly girl, I'll tell them," Umbridge snapped. "Well, Minister, Miss Edgecombe here came to my office shortly after dinner this evening and told me she had something she wanted to tell me. She said that if I proceeded to a secret room on the seventh floor, sometimes known as the Room of Requirement, I would find out something to my advantage. I questioned her a little further and she admitted that there was to be some kind of meeting there. Unfortunately at this point the hex came into operation and upon catching sight of her face in my mirror the girl became too distressed to tell me any more."

"Well now," Fudge said, "it is very brave of you, my dear, coming to tell Professor Umbridge. You did exactly the right thing. Now, will you tell me what happened at this meeting? What was its purpose? Who was there?"

What surprised me was that Marietta shook her head again, her eyes widening.

"Haven't we got a counter jinx for this?" Fudge asked with some annoyance in his voice. "So she can speak freely?"

"I haven't managed to find one," Umbridge said. "But it doesn't matter if she won't speak, I can take the story from here."

Umbridge shot me a nasty look.

"You will remember, Minister," Umbridge said, "that I sent you a report back in October that both Potters had met a number of fellow students in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade."

"What's your evidence for this?" McGonagall cut in, looking at me then back at Umbridge.

"Testimony from Willy Widdershins, Minerva," Umbridge said happily. "He was in the bar at the time. He was heavily bandaged, it is true, but his hearing was quite unimpaired. He heard every word the Potters said and hastened straight to the school to report to me."

"Oh so that's why he wasn't prosecuted for setting up all those regurgitating toilets," McGonagall said coldly. "What an interesting insight into our justice system!"

"Blatant corruption!" One of the portraits of a previous Headmaster roared from the wall, making me jump and making another ring of energy burst out. "The Ministry did not cut deals with petty criminals in my day, no sir they did not!"

"Thank you, Fortescue, that will do," Dumbledore said.

"The purpose of Potter and Malfoy's meeting with these students," Umbridge said, "was to persuade them to join an illegal society, whose aim was to learn spells and curses the Ministry has decided are inappropriate for school age—"

"I think you'll find you're wrong there, Dolores," Dumbledore said.

I didn't know how Dumbledore could possibly get us out of trouble here. If this Willy Widdershins bloke had really heard everything then there wasn't a lot to fight for.

"Oho!" Fudge said, "yes, let's hear the latest cock and bull story designed to pull Potter out of trouble! Go on then, Dumbledore, go on! Willy Widdershins was lying then? Both of the Potters have identical twins that were in Hogsmeade that day? Or is there the usual simple explanation involving a reversal of time, a dead man coming back to life and a couple of invisible Dementors?"

"Oh very good, Minister, very good!" Percy said with a hearty laugh that made me want to kick him.

Then he saw me and his expression turned grim.

"Cornelius," Dumbledore said, "I don't deny, nor I am sure does Elizabeth— that she and her brother were in the Hog's Head that day, nor that they were trying to recruit students to a Defense Against the Dark Arts group. I am merely pointing out that Dolores is quite wrong to suggest that such a group was, at that time illegal. If you remember, the Ministry decree banning student societies was not put into effect until two days after Elizabeth and Harry's Hogsmeade meeting, so they were not breaking any rules in the Hog's Head at all."

Percy, Fudge, and Umbridge all looked like they'd been slapped twice.

"That's all very fine, Headmaster," Umbridge said sweetly, "but we are now nearly six months on from the introduction of Educational Decree Number Twenty four. If the first meeting was not illegal, all those that have happened since most certainly are."

"Well," Dumbledore said, "they certainly would be if they had continued after the Decree came into effect. Do you have any evidence that any such meetings continued?"

I could sense the tension building up in the room. Blood was pouring out of my hands now and dripping onto the floor. My skin was on fire, and I was struggling to cope with the headache that was coming from it.

"Evidence?" Umbridge asked with a frown. "Have you not been listening? Why do you think Miss Edgecombe is here?"

"Oh can she tell us about six months worth of meetings? I was under the impression that she was merely reporting a meeting tonight," Dumbledore said.

"Miss Edgecombe," Umbridge snapped. "Tell us how long these meetings have been going on, dear. Simply nod or shake your head, I'm sure it won't make the sports worse. Have they been happening regularly over the past six months?"

I felt a huge pang in my chest. We couldn't get out of this one.

"Just nod or shake your head, dear," Umbridge urged.

To everyone's surprise, Marietta shook her head.

"I don't think you understood the question dear— I'm asking whether you have been going to these meetings for the past six months? You have, haven't you?" Umbridge demanded. Marietta shook her head again.

"What do you mean by shaking your head, dear?" Umbridge asked in a testy voice.

"I would have thought her meaning was quite clear. There have been no secret meetings for the past six months. Is that correct, Miss Edgecombe?" McGonagall intervened. Marietta nodded.

"But there was a meeting tonight! You told me about it, in the Room of Requirement! And the Potters were the leaders, were they not? WHY ARE YOU SHAKING YOUR HEAD, GIRL?" Umbridge snarled.

"Well usually when a person shakes their head, they mean 'no.' Unless Miss Edgecombe is using a form of sign language as yet unknown to humans—" McGonagall began. Umbridge lunged at Marietta and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her insanely hard.

Dumbledore and Kingsley both advanced toward Umbridge.

"I cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores," Dumbledore said furiously.

"You want to calm yourself, Madame Umbridge. You don't want to get yourself into trouble now," Kingsley said, his jaw tight.

"No— no of course not I forgot myself," Umbridge stammered.

"Dolores," Fudge said, "the meeting tonight— the one we know definitely happened—"

"Yes, yes well Miss Edgecombe tipped me off and I went to the seventh floor with certain trustworthy students so as to catch them red handed. It seems they were warned prior to my arrival. Miss Parkinson found this list inside," Umbridge said. "We needed evidence and the room provided."

My heart skipped beats as she pulled out the list, with Harry, George, I's names on it.

"Excellent, and by thunder—" Fudge exclaimed. "See what they've named themselves? Dumbledore's Army!"

He handed Dumbledore the parchment. He looked at it then smiled.

"Well the game is up," he said. "Would you like a written confession, Cornelius, or will a statement before these witnesses suffice?"

McGonagall and Kingsley looked at each other, clearly not understanding.

George dared to look down at me, and I let out a slightly shrug.

What was Dumbledore playing at?

"Statement?" Fudge said. "What— I don't..."

"Dumbledore's Army, Cornelius," Dumbledore said, smiling to me, "Not Potter's Army. Not Weasley's Army— for that matter. Dumbledore's Army."

"But but— YOU?" Fudge asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore said happily.

"You organized this?"

"I did."

"You recruited these students for your army?"

"Tonight was supposed to be the first meeting," Dumbledore said. "Merely to see whether they would be interested in joining me. I see now that it was a mistake to invite Miss Edgecombe of course." Marietta nodded.

"Then you HAVE been plotting against me!" Fudge roared.

"That's right," Dumbledore said cheerfully.

I couldn't let him do this.

"No— Professor Dumbledore!" I cried loudly, squeezing my hands so hard that blood dripped out at a faster rate, and another ring burst out, making George quickly let go of my shoulder.

"Be quiet, Beth, or I am afraid you will have to leave my office," Dumbledore said.

"Well well well," Fudge said in a horrified delight, "I came here tonight expecting to expel the Potters and instead—"

"You get to arrest me," Dumbledore said. "It's like losing a Knut and finding a Galleon, isn't it?"

"Duplicate the notes, Weasley!" Fudge barked at Percy. "Send a copy to the Daily Prophet at once. If we send a fast owl it should make the morning edition! You, Dumbledore, will now be escorted back to the Ministry, where you will be formally charged and then sent to Azkaban to await trial!"

"Ah yes, I thought we might hit this little snag," Dumbledore said. Fudge stared at him incredulously.

"I see no snag!" He spat.

"Well I'm afraid I do. Well it's just that you seem to be laboring under the delusion that I'm going to what is the phrase? Come quietly. I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all. I have absolutely no intention of being sent to Azkaban. I could break out of course but what a waste of time and frankly I can't think of a whole host of things I would rather be doing," Dumbledore said. "Don't be silly Dawlish, I'm sure you're an excellent Auror, I seem to remember you achieved 'Outstanding' on all your NEWTs— but if you attempt to er— bring me in by force, I will have to hurt you.'"

"So," Fudge sneered, "you intent to take on Dawlish, Shacklebolt, Dolores, and myself single handed, do you, Dumbledore?"

"Merlin's beard no. Not unless you're foolish enough to force me to," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"He will not be single handed!" McGonagall said loudly.

"Oh yes he will Minerva! Hogwarts needs you!" Dumbledore said sharply.

"Enough of this rubbish! Take him—" Fudge began.

Silver light flashed all across the room. Someone grabbed me from my chair and pulled me down to the floor, making me cry out in pain as my head throbbed again. Then there was silence.

"Are you all right?" Dumbledore asked. I groaned and shook my head as George helped me up. I saw all the Ministry officials knocked out on the floor— including Percy.

"Those two are fine," McGonagall said, pointing at George and Marietta as she hoisted her up.

"Unfortunately I had to hex Kingsley too, or it would've looked suspicious," Dumbledore said grimly. "He was remarkably quick on the uptake, modifying Miss Edgecombe's memory like that while everyone looked the other way. Thank him for me, won't you Minerva? Now they will awake soon. It will be best if they do not know we had time to communicate. Act as though no time has passed. As though you too were merely knocked to the ground, they will not remember—"

"Where will you go? Grimmauld Place?" McGonagall asked.

"No, not into hiding. Fudge will soon wish he'd never dislodged me from Hogwarts, I promise you," Dumbledore said.

"Professor Dumbledore," I said, my lip trembling.

"Listen to me, Beth," he said. "You must make sure Harry studies Occlumency as hard as he can, do you understand me? Make sure he does everything Professor Snape tells him and practices it particularly every night before sleeping so that he can close his mind to bad dreams. You must promise me to make sure he does— and make sure you conserve your powers— don't use them for silly little things that can be done in any normal way. I promise you'll understand it all soon enough—"

Dawlish groaned, making Dumbledore purse his lips.

"Remember, make sure Harry closes his mind," he told me, pressing his fingers to my forehead. "You will both understand in due time."

There was a cry. Fawkes, as gorgeous as I remembered him, swooped over Dumbledore in all his majestic flair of bold fiery colors. Dumbledore grasped the phoenix's long golden tail. Fire flashed through the room, making me groan again as the bright light from it made my head ache more. When I looked back up, Dumbledore was gone.

Seconds later, all the Ministry officials woke up.

"Where is he?" Fudge snarled as he got up.

"I don't know!" Kingsley shouted. Clever. He was a good double agent.

"He can't have Disapparated—" Umbridge snapped. "You can't do it from inside the school—"

"The stairs!" Dawlish cried as he ran out.

"Well Minerva, I'm afraid this is the end of your friend Dumbledore," Fudge said in a nasty tone, glaring at her and us.

"You think so, do you?" She asked scornfully.

"Get these three off to bed," Fudge said, ignoring her response and dashing out.

"Come, Potter, Weasley, Edgecombe," McGonagall said.

"Wait!" Percy called, rushing over. He ignored George and looked at me fearfully. "Beth—"

He reached his hand out to touch my shoulder but George stepped between us.

"Get away from her," George snarled. "Don't be a hypocrite, Perce, you didn't want me to associate myself with her before so shut up and leave her alone."

Percy's jaw tightened, and without another word he dashed out the door.

I whimpered, and George picked me up. There was luckily no more energy bursting out from me.

McGonagall had us drop Marietta off at her Common Room first, then helped George and I to the Hospital Wing.

"Are you alright, Elizabeth?" McGonagall asked, looking fearfully at me as George set me down onto a bed and Madam Pomfrey rushed over, bringing an ointment and pouring it on my hands.

I was unable to answer, and instead let out a pained scream, gasping as the ointment made my hands burn even more.

"I'm sorry Miss Potter!" Madam Pomfrey said, her face contorted with pain as she listened to me scream.

"Is she going to be okay?" George asked frantically.

I wailed loudly, and leaned bit my lip, sweat pouring down my forehead as I felt more pain shooting through every nerve in my body.

McGonagall shoved George out of the way and came to stand beside me, crouching down as I stopped screaming and began sobbing as Madam Pomfrey forced a tube down my throat to help me breathe.

"October 31st, 1981," McGonagall said, her voice trembling. "I met you and your brother. You turned into a small lion from how angry you were about what happened to your parents, remember? Elizabeth I watched you discover your powers, but I don't want to be here to see you lose them, do I make myself clear? Elizabeth— you need to pull through—"

My hands went limp and I stifled a sob as I felt my whole body go numb.

"Beth," George said, leaning down by my feet as Madam Pomfrey bandaged my hands. "Come on, hang on— hang on—"

I wheezed into the tube and blinked, my vision beginning to blur.

"Well?" McGonagall asked a bit sharply, staring at Madam Pomfrey. "Will she be okay?"

"Physically, yes, Minerva— in time," Madam Pomfrey said, looking devastated as she put a cold cloth on my forehead. "But I'm not sure... about the powers—"

"What, Poppy?" McGonagall snapped, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks.

"I think— I think... I think she may have lost them."


	60. Chapter 60

Inhale. Your external intercostal muscles contract, raising your lungs up and out as your diaphragm drops. Pressure decreases, volume increases.

This is fine.

Exhale. Your internal intercostal muscles contract, pushing your lungs down and in as your abdominal muscles contract to push your diaphragm back up. Pressure increases, volume decreases.

This is what hurts the most.

For three days, every exhale feels like a stab in the gut. Inhaling just makes me expectant of the pain I know will follow. I flinch before every gear switch.

It's annoying.

I wish humans could survive with just inhaling. Perhaps then I'd feel no pain.

By the time I'm able to get out of bed, I can finally breathe properly, which is a relief, because I was sick of bitching every day and taking god awful medicines just to hear the same thing at the end of the afternoon.

"Another night should do the trick."

It does, physically. After awhile the soreness subsides, and I can breathe without the ventilator and without fear of consequent pain.

The energy bursts have stopped. My burned hands have recovered, although I still am replenishing the blood I lost.

There is no word on whether I for sure lost my powers or didn't.

I suppose we have to wait and see.

"You ready?"

I looked up at George, who was holding the handlebars of a wheelchair.

"I can walk now," I said, raising a eyebrow.

"Madam Pomfrey says it's policy."

I rolled my eyes and stood up. George helped me into the wheelchair and I sighed.

"You haven't missed much in Potions," he said as he wheeled me out into the hall. "Just review. Fred says Transfiguration is review too."

"What about my other classes?"

"Well new content, you can get that from the other twins. I just assumed the NEWT classes were most important."

"They are," I said, twirling my hair in my fingers. "So what's been going on with you and Fred? The others?"

"Well when we're not in detention, we're working on Skiiving Snackboxes," he said happily. "Trying to come up with products to use against Umbridge."

"You're going to get expelled, please don't," I said, wincing as he tried his best to make the voyage up the stairs as nice as possible. I just repeatedly bumped my head on the back of the wheelchair.

"At this point," he said, sighing, "it's inevitable."

"No it's not George, you could try..."

"It's not worth trying to finish, Beth. I'd rather go work on the joke shop and make money so I can get a place secured for when you graduate."

I turned red. "George, but your NEWTs..."

"Don't need 'em to work at the joke shop. It's all review now, I've learned all Hogwarts has to teach me. Fred and I are done here. We don't need a test to confirm what we know that we know."

"So you just want to leave," I mumbled, looking up at him.

"We'll stay as long as we can," he said gently. "But we can't let Umbridge torture us much longer."

"So you'd just leave me behind."

"I'd see you during the summer," George said sheepishly, looking guilty.

"I guess," I said. "I suppose I'm just not ready to be here without you. Six years George— six years of me getting to talk to you whenever I pleased. Two and a half wonderful years together, as a couple. It's... a lot to consider."

"I want a life with you," he said, massaging my shoulder. "And we can't have a life unless we build a foundation. We can't live at my parents' house—"

"I wasn't saying we would."

"Beth," he said as I tucked my short locks behind my ear. "I know I probably should waited to tell you this later but—"

"No, I'm glad you told me now while I'm processing things. It's just annoying how much uncertainty there is."

"Uncertainty?"

"What Umbridge is planning," I said, "whether Dumbledore is coming back. What Voldemort is really up to, giving Harry these dreams. What will happen when you leave. Whether I even still have powers or not...."

I looked down at my hands.

George gently took one and lifted it, kissing it, caressing the finger that carried the promise ring he'd given me. "I bet you've got some left. You just need to wait a bit to see. Remember, until you can move around without getting dizzy, you can't try and see if you have powers."

"It's annoying."

"At least you passed the Apparition test already, there's no strain for a bit. Just work in your other classes, review for your other two NEWTs, and in awhile we'll... give it a shot."

I nodded slowly. "Okay." I paused. "Hey— isn't that Harry?"

"It is," George said, wheeling me over to the large House hourglasses containing the points. As we approached, several stones flew out of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff hourglasses.

"Hey Beth," Fred said from where he stood, wincing and shaking his head as Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ernie Macmillian turned to face me.

"Why the loss?" I asked quizzically.

"Malfoy just docked us all about fifty points," Harry sneered, then frowning. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," I said. "What did you do to tick Malfoy off?"

"Talked crap on Umbridge," Ron hissed.

"What'd you do, Fred?" Hermione asked, looking over at him.

"Ah," George said as his twin shrugged. "We didn't do anything to lose points today. Montague did try to do us during break earlier though.

"What do you mean tried?" Ron asked, making me look up at George.

"He never managed to get all the words out," Fred said, shrugging. "Due to the fact that we forced him headfirst into that Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor."

"But you'll get into terrible trouble!" Hermione cried. George smirked slightly.

"Not until Montague reappears, and that could take weeks," he said. "Dunno where we sent him. Anyway... we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore."

"Have you ever?" I muttered, considering what George had just told me.

"Course we have, Beth," Fred said. "Never actually been expelled, have we?"

"We've always known where to draw the line," George said.

"We might have put a toe across it occasionally," Fred admitted.

"But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem—"

"—now with Dumbledore gone—"

"—we reckon a bit of mayhem—"

"—is exactly what our dear new Head deserves."

"You mustn't!" Hermione said frantically. "You really mustn't! She'd love a reason to expel you!"

"You don't get it, Hermione, do you?" George asked with a smile, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. "We don't care about staying any more. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore first."

"And then you're leaving," I said under my breath.

"What?" Ron asked, nor having heard. George shot me a warning look and I scowled.

"I'm asking what 'bit' they mean," I lied.

"Well Phase One is about to begin," Fred said happily. "I'd get in the Great Hall for lunch, if I were you, that way the teachers will see you can't have had anything to do with it."

"Anything to do with what?" I asked. "I want to help, if you've already planned it."

"You need to rest," George said, coming over. I looked at him indignantly.

"Might as well let me do something now," I said, annoyed. "I at least want to see."

George looked at Harry, who miraculously shrugged.

"I suppose we can take you to the Great Hall to eat before we take you to the Common Room," Harry said. "Then we can all see."

"Okay," I sighed, defeated.

George leaned down and kissed me.

"I'll see you later," he said, pushing me over to Harry, who grabbed the handlebars.

"Bye," I said softly as George and Fred scurried away.

"What was that about?" Ron asked once they were out of sight. "Did you and George have a fight, Beth?"

"Nah," I said. It wasn't really a fight. "He just said something I can't stop thinking about."

"Something bad?"

"Not to them," I said, pursing my lips.

"Are you sure you're okay, Beth?" Hermione asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "You look really sad."

"Should I owl Uncle Remus?" Harry asked.

"No, I'm fine," I said quickly. I was sure my godfather still didn't want to talk to me.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," I exasperated. "I'm just tired and bored and behind on schoolwork and annoyed that I can't check if I have powers or not."

"Well that doesn't sound like you're 'fine'" Ron said. "C'mon Beth, Lupin could help—"

"I don't want to talk to him," I snapped, gripping my kneecaps furiously. "Please just take me to the Great Hall."

The trio didn't question it.

I was mad.

My godfather was ignoring me for making a mistake that didn't even end badly. George was throwing away his education, after years of me insisting he should at least try. Umbridge was being a downright bitch and we couldn't stop her. The Ministry believed I was a liar and a murderer. Dumbledore had left us when we needed him most.

Of course I was mad and I had a right to be.

Footsteps came behind us. "Potters!"

Harry then turned the wheelchair suddenly and I saw Filch behind us.

"The Headmistress would like to see you, Potters," he said, pointing a bony finger at Harry and I.

"I didn't do it," Harry said immediately, which would've been funny if it wasn't Umbridge we were dealing with, and if I wasn't so angry about everything.

"Guilty conscience, eh?" Filch asked with a cruel laugh. "Follow me."

"Does Beth have to come too?" Harry asked quickly. "She needs to eat solid food—"

"Not my problem," Filch said coldly. "Just follow me."

When Filch turned, Harry made a face. Hermione and Ron sighed and kept walking as Harry wheeled me toward Umbridge's office.

"Here we are," Filch said once we arrived. "The Potter boy and girl to see you, ma'am."

"Thank you Argus," Umbridge said sweetly, waving us in.

Harry wheeled me into her office.

"Sit," she motioned to us after she waved Filch away.

Harry sat, and looked at me.

I wasn't in the mood to snap that I was already sitting just for the heck of it.

"Well, what would you like to drink?" Umbridge asked, looking between us.

I stared at her confused. "Excuse me?" I asked.

"To drink, Mr Potter and Miss Potter. Tea? Coffee? Pumpkin juice?" She asked.

"Nothing thank you," Harry said.

"I'm not in the mood, thanks—"

"I insist," she said dangerously. "Choose something."

"Tea then," Harry said with a shrug. I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. She was going to poison us for sure.

"And you, Miss Potter?" Umbridge asked, fixing her gaze on me.

"Tea as well," I murmured.

She made a big show of waving her wand and turning her back to us as the drinks appeared and she began to add some extra features. When I craned my neck I saw a bottle of Veritaserum.

I looked right at Harry, and his eyes met mine. I concentrated and winced, unable to seep into his mind and say anything.

This either meant it was too early for me to try, or that I'd lost my powers for good.

"There," she said as she turned back around, handing us out drinks. "Drink up. And lets have a chat about the other nights distressing events..."

"I wasn't there," Harry said bluntly.

"No, but I'm sure you've heard all about it by now," she said sweetly.

I looked down at my tea and swirled it around. Traces of veritaserum were prevalent in it.

"Drink up you two," Umbridge said, smiling sweetly at me.

I pretended to drink, and prayed to god Harry was doing the same.

"Now where is Albus Dumbledore?" She asked abruptly once we'd both put our cups down.

"No idea," Harry said automatically.

"I don't know where he went," I said.

Even if I'd drank it, it'd be the truth.

"You're sure, Miss Potter?"

"Just because he left when I was there doesn't mean he told me where he went," I said, annoyed. She looked indifferently at me.

"Very well...in that case you will kindly tell me the whereabouts of Sirius Black," she said.

"Why would we know?" I asked immediately. "Just because he's Harry's godfather doesn't mean we were able to keep tabs with him."

"Don't play stupid," she hissed.

"We don't know where he is," Harry said sharply.

Umbridge seemed pissed that she didn't get anything out of us.

"Very well, you two," Umbridge hissed. "I will take your word for it this time. But be warned— the Ministry stands behind me. All channels of communication are being monitored. If I find a shred of evidence—"

There was an explosion outside that made Harry and I flinch. Umbridge stood up and stared furiously at the door.

"What was—?" She asked, walking carefully to the door, her wand draw. She listened and her eyes narrowed.

"Back to lunch, both of you!" She snapped as she got up and left.

We waited a few seconds. Then as if out of instinct, Harry leapt out of his seat and turned my wheelchair around, running down the hall behind her.

As we got down by the staircase a firework whizzed in front of me, and made me lurch back in my wheelchair.

"Hurry, Filch, hurry!" Umbridge shrieked below. "They'll be all over the school unless we do something! Stupefy!"

I watched as another one zoomed past, joining with another group of fireworks to create a huge dragon.

Harry and I laughed, watching Filch and Umbridge struggle. Then Harry pushed my wheelchair down another hall and found Fred and George hiding behind a tapestry.

"Impressive, very impressive," Harry said, smirking proudly. "You'll put Dr Filibuster out of business without a problem!"

"Cheers," George said as he wiped the tears of laughter from his face. He looked at me and I winced, causing him to frown slightly.

"Oh I hope she tries Vanishing them next," Fred said with a laugh, peering down the corridor, "they multiply by ten every time you try."

"Inventive," I said, clasping my hands together. "Can we go eat now?"

George took my wheelchair from Harry and took me down another corridor to take the long way to the Great Hall.

"You don't seem too happy," he noted.

"I wanted to help. And you're just going to get yourself expelled."

"Beth—"

"You're going to leave," I said, my voice cracking. "You're going to throw your education away and leave— oh George think— the joke shop might not take off as well as you need it to. What'll you have to fall back on?"

George's jaw tightened. "Beth, I don't have a chance even if I stay. I'm not smart enough to pass my NEWTs and you know it."

"No George you think you can't but you can—"

"I think you're just not ready for me to leave."

My lip trembled. "How could I be?" I said, tears already running down my cheeks. "I didn't think we'd have to say 'goodbye' until summer..."

George stopped the wheelchair and knelt down right in front of me.

"It won't be goodbye," he said, taking my hand in his. "It's 'I'll see you later.' And when that later comes, I'll have my own place and we can have uninterrupted fun..."

I felt my cheeks turn red. "Oh how can you joke—"

"Because you're sad and I hate seeing you sad," he said, touching my cheek. "Pleas Beth. It— it won't be the worst thing."

"Your education George—"

"Is over," he said. "Cmon..."

I looked away. "Can we please just go and eat?"

Without another word, he wheeled me to the Great Hall.

The fireworks continued to rage on around school for the rest of the day. This wasn't because the teachers couldn't defeat them— it was because they acted as if they simply could not get rid of them without Umbridge's help.

"Thank you so much, Professor!" Professor Flitwick said curtly after coaxing a few fireworks into the classroom. "I could have got rid of the sparklers myself, of course, but I wasn't sure whether or not I had the authority."

And with that he closed the door in her snarling face as everyone in my class roared with laughter.

Mad respect for him.

"They were wonderful fireworks," Hermione said dreamily when Bixby and Batavia I told the whole Common Room what Professor Flitwick had told Umbridge.

"Thanks," George said with a wide grin. "Weasley's Wildfire Whiz bangs. Only thing is, we used our whole stock. We're going to have to start again from scratch now."

"It was worth it though," Fred said. "If you want to add your name to the waiting list, Hermione, it's five Galleons for your Basic Blaze box and twenty for the Deflagration Deluxe..."

To my surprise, Hermione put down her name.

"Oh why don't we have the night off?" She asked happily when Harry and Ron started taking out their homework. "After all, the Easter holidays start on Friday. We'll have plenty of time then."

"Are you feeling all right?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"Now you mention it," Hermione said, "I think I'm feeling a bit... rebellious."

"Now who are you and what've you done with Hermione Granger?" Ron asked in disbelief.

I laughed a bit and stood up carefully, walking toward the fireplace and tossing some old notes in the fire. I could feel George looking at me fixedly, but I ignored it.

I felt that now he assumed I didn't support his dreams. I did, but I didn't think it was worth leaving early for on an expulsion. He could at least get his diploma.

And yes, perhaps I wasn't ready for him to leave me yet.

This is the problem with dating someone that's a grade above you. They leave.

________

"You don't have to walk me to Occlumency, I'm not a baby."

"I promised Dumbledore I'd make sure you kept at it, and that's what I'm doing."

"Fine."

I ruffled Harry's hair as we turned the corner, and saw Cho Chang rush forward to meet us.

"I just wanted to say," she mumbled quickly, looking at us both, "Harry.... Beth.... I never dreamed Marietta would tell."

"Yeah well," Harry said coldly. Dang they really had ended on a bad note, hadn't they?

"She's a lovely person, really," Cho said. "She just made a mistake."

"A lovely person who made a mistake?" He asked incredulously. "She sold us all out, including you!"

"Well... we all got away, didn't we?" Cho asked, a bit startled. "You know, her mum works for the Ministry, it's really difficult for her—"

"Ron's dad works for the Ministry too!" Harry spat. "And he hasn't got SNEAK written across his face, has he?"

"That was a really horrible trick of Hermione Granger's," Cho said angrily. "She should have told us she jinxed that list."

"Hermione is brilliant but don't give her the credit for that," I said in an annoyed voice. "That was me. And I'm proud of it."

"You?" Cho spat. "YOU put the hex on the list?"

"Yes," I said boldly.

Cho was seething. "I can't believe Cedric could have called a sick, twisted BITCH like you his best friend."

That was it.

"I can't believe he ever dated a rat faced and butthurt skank like you!" I spat, stepping in her face. "How DARE you insult his memory by jumping right onto my brother like he meant nothing? You're a disrespectful whore and Marietta deserved what she got. No one else cracked under the pressure— she's just pathetic and weak, and so are you!"

Cho staggered back. She looked at Harry for help, but even he was annoyed.

"Don't start crying again," he said warningly.

"I wasn't going to!" She yelled.

"Good! Beth and I've got enough to cope with at the moment!" Harry said.

"Go cope with it then!" She said furiously as she stalked off, spitting out more vulgar words.

I looked at Harry, my fists balled up, feeling furious.

"She kept comparing me to Cedric the entire time we dated," he hissed. "I didn't understand why she was even dating me— and you're right, she moved on too quick..."

"She insulted Cedric, forgetting him so quickly," I said, my mouth quivering.

"He thought you were the greatest friend ever," Harry said immediately. "Don't ever think for a minute that what she said is true. He cared more about you than he did for most people— I could tell. She may have been his girlfriend but you— you were family to him."

I hadn't thought this much about Cedric in a long, long, time.

"Head to Occlumency," I sighed, shaking my head. "I'll see you later, okay? I have practice."

Harry nodded and kept going while I went to the Quidditch pitch.

God, I missed Cedric.

At practice, stupid Jack Sloper hit himself with his own bat so Ron had to take him to the Hospital Wing. The Beaters were such idiots it would be a miracle if we won.

I simply waited for Harry to end his lesson outside the Potions classroom. When he came out, he was sweating.

"You— you're done at practice already?" He asked nervously.

"Yeah, Ron had to take Jack Sloper to the Hospital Wing. We think he knocked himself out with his own bat... what's with the sweat?"

"I um... saw a memory of Snape's," Harry said. "It was... dad and Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus and Pettigrew... bullying Snape. Mum was there too. Dad was being all cocky and rude."

"You saw HIS memory?"

"Yeah, and now I'm done with Occlumency," he said. "But besides that fact... it was just really weird... I feel almost like sympathizing with Snape because dad and his friends made life pretty shit for him..."

"I kind of feel bad for Snape too now," I said, crossing my arms.

Harry winced. "Beth... I really want to talk to Sirius about it..."

I pursed my lips. "There has to be some way to do it."

"Come on," Harry said. "With Umbridge policing the fires and reading all the mail?"

"Anything is possible," I said. "We could... ask the twins."

"Ask us what?"

I turned and saw Fred and George come out of a nearby corridor.

"Hey," I mumbled. "Erm— Harry wants to talk to Sirius. We need help, what with Umbridge groping around in the fires and frisking all the owls."

"Well we think we can find a way around that," George said with a smile in my direction. "It's a simple matter of causing a diversion. Now, you might have noticed that we have been rather quiet on the mayhem front during the Easter holidays?"

"Yeah, I noticed," I said, raising my eyebrow. "I've gotten a suspicious amount of time with you."

George smirked and Fred winked.

"What was the point, we asked ourselves, of disrupting leisure time?" Fred said, going to stand beside Harry as George came and wrapped his arm around me. "No point at all, we answered ourselves. And of course, we'd have messed up people's revision too, which would be the very last thing we'd want to do."

"But its business as usual from tomorrow," George added, squeezing my hip slightly. "And if we're going to be causing a bit of uproar, why not do it so that Harry can have his chat with Sirius?"

"Thank you," Harry said, beaming. "Erm— any ideas on how to actually talk to him?"

"Umbridge's office," I blurted out.

"Bold," Fred said with a mischievous grin. "I like it."

"Her fire is the only one not being watched," I said, furrowing my eyebrows. "If— if Harry uses the knife Sirius gave him at Christmas— the one that'll open any lock.. it should work."

"You're a bloody genius," George said, swooping down and kissing my cheek. "Right then. We're thinking of doing it tomorrow, just after lessons, because it should cause maximum impact if everybody's in the corridors. Harry, we'll set it off in the east wing somewhere, draw her right away from her own office— I reckon we should be able to guarantee you what? Twenty minutes?" He looked at Fred, who nodded.

"Easy," Fred said.

"What sort of diversion is this?" I asked.

"You'll see, Beth," Fred said with a smirk. "At least you will if you trot along to Gregory the Smarmy's corridor round about five o'clock tomorrow."

"Can't you give us a hint?" I asked. "Or me a hint?"

"Nah," George said. "This is something you want to see for yourself as it happens. A hint won't do you any good."

I looked at him and pouted, noticing his eyes looked... different. Nervous.

"What is it, George?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "Nothing," he said quickly. "I'll er— catch you later, love."

He quickly waved to Fred to follow him.

"He never calls me that," I mumbled.

What the hell were they up to?

When I witnessed it myself, I was unprepared for what was coming next.

After making sure Harry got out of Umbridge's office safely, we darted down the nearby staircase and found there was a swamp all over the downstairs corridor.

"So!" Umbridge snapped from the stairs just below us, "so you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?"

"Pretty amusing, yeah," Fred said, looking up. Behind him, I could see Angelina in the crowd, covering her mouth.

"I've got the form Headmistress," Filch said, appearing beside Umbridge. "I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting... oh let me do it now..."

"Very good Argus," Umbridge said in a dangerous voice. "You two are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school."

"You know what?" Fred said. "I don't think we are. George, I think we've outgrown full time education."

No. They couldn't possibly be doing it now.

"What're they doing?" Harry asked. I didn't respond, and sprinted down the stairs.

"Yeah I've been feeling that way myself," George said, looking around slightly. "Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?" He looked around again. Was he looking for me?

"Definitely," Fred said, nodding. He and George raised their wands. "Accio brooms!"

There was a loud crash. I turned and barely managed to duck before their brooms came soaring from behind me, probably from Umbridge's office.

"We won't be seeing you," Fred said, swinging his leg over the broom just as I reached the foot of the stairs.

"Yeah don't bother to keep in touch," George said. He looked up and saw me.

Fred turned to all the students watching, grinning madly. "If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs and down here, come to number ninety- three, Diagon Alley, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Our new premises!"

"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat," George said, pointing at Umbridge.

"STOP THEM!" Umbridge snarled. The Inquisitorial Squad lept forward as the twins kicked off.

George flew his broom down and picked me up, scooping me behind him.

"George no—" I cried, frantically hugging onto him as we soared out of the reach of the Inquisitorial Squad.

"It's not goodbye," he said, as Fred flew around expanding the swamp to climb up the stairs and chase Umbridge back. "It's 'see you later.'"

"George please—"

"I love you, Beth," he said, grabbing my face and kissing me. He flew down and set me on the ground by Angelina, who was sobbing silently. George held my hand tightly and smiled.

"I'll see you later," he said. "I promise."

I felt tears streaming down my cheeks as he let go of my hand right as he and Fred yelled "Give her hell from us, Peeves!"

"George!" I cried as Peeves saluted him.

George blew a kiss at me, and waved. The students around me began to clap, and the twins cheered loudly— flying out the open doors and into the sunset.

"See you later," I whispered as George's outline disappeared from sight.


	61. Chapter 61

Fred and George's flight to freedom had changed the overall atmosphere of the school. Now people were threatening to "pull a Weasley" whenever we had shit lessons— and they'd begun to compete for new Troublemaker in Chief positions.

Of course, that concept had soon been dropped after an unnamed student announced that the Troublemaker in Chief could only be me, because I was the Queen of the operations the entire time.

I suppose I have a new title now.

It later became obvious just exactly how many Skiving Snackboxes the twins had managed to sell because left and right were fainting spells, nosebleeds, and vomiting on behalf of students claiming they had Umbridge- itis.

Even this was not what caused the most chaos. Peeves seemed to have taken the twins' words to heart and was causing mayhem like never before.

Tables were literally being turned. He would pop out of blackboards, break vases and topple statues. He kept shutting Mrs Norris inside suits of armor and smashing lanterns. He'd snuff out the candles, juggle burning torches over our heads, and even caused stacks of parchment to fly around and catch fire. He went as far as to flood the entire second and third floor by pulling the taps of the bathrooms.

He even went as far as to publicly ask for my help on several of the pranks, which only further emphasized my status as Queen and his as deliverer of all that is funny and anti- Umbridge.

Despite many teachers watching me help him, I never once got a detention. It was almost like none of them were angry about Peeves' behavior.

Professor Flitwick called him into our class and gave him twenty ink bottles, instructing him to be creative with the walls of the school— of course reminding Peeves and us too that we must never speak of it. One day McGonagall passed by Peeves as he was unscrewing the crystal chandelier, and Batavia and Bixby swore she said out of the corner of her mouth "it unscrews the other way."

The top it all off, Montague still hadn't recovered after coming back from the Vanishing Cabinet. He was disoriented and didn't have any idea what had happened to him.

"Should we say something?" Hermione asked. "About what happened to him? In case it helps Madam Pomfrey cure him?"

"Eh he'll recover," Ron said.

"Anyway, more trouble for Umbridge, isn't it?" Harry said.

"What if Montague is permanently injured?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"He'll be fine," I said. "He shouldn't have tried to take all those points from Gryffindor to begin with— he deserved it."

"Yeah if you want to worry about anyone, Hermione, worry about me!" Ron said.

"You?" Hermione asked. "Why should I be worried about you?"

"When Mum's next letter finally gets through Umbridge's screening process," he said, "I'm going to be in deep trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if she's sent another Howler."

"Why would she do that?" I asked, biting my lip.

"She'll say it's my fault Fred and George left, you wait," Ron said miserably. "She'll say I should have stopped them from leaving. That I should've grabbed the ends of their brooms and hung on or something... yeah it'll be all my fault. Just cause I'm the Prefect."

"Well if she does say that it'll be very unfair, you couldn't have done anything!" Hermione said. "But I'm sure she won't, I mean, if it's really true they've got premises in Diagon Alley, they must have been planning this for ages."

"Yeah but that's another thing, how did they get the premises?" Ron asked. "It's a bit dodgy, isn't it? They'll need loads of Galleons to afford the rent on a place in Diagon Alley. She'll want to know what they've been up to, to get their hands on that sort of gold."

"Well yes that occurred to me too," Hermione said. "I've been wondering whether Mundungus has persuaded them to sell stolen goods or something awful."

"He hasn't," I said flatly.

"How do you know?" Ron and Hermione asked at the same time.

"Because," I said, breathing in deep. "I gave them money. I gave them my Triwizard winnings last June."

"Beth, you didn't!" Hermione said.

"Yes I did," I said. "No regrets. They got cheated by Bagman. I didn't need the gold, and if anyone should have it, it's them. They'll be great at running a joke shop."

"But this is excellent!" Ron said. "It's all your fault, Beth— Mum can't blame me at all! Can I tell her?"

"Yes I suppose you'd better," I said solemnly. "Especially if she thinks they're receiving stolen cauldrons or something. I don't suppose it'll help if you mention I did try to stop them from leaving, but you could add it in."

Ron nodded and darted away.

You might wonder how I'm coping with it all.

It is difficult.

George can't owl me of course, thanks to stupid Umbridge attacking every bloody owl she sees. He can't even risk using the fireplaces— and besides, I don't even know if I still have any powers.

I haven't spoken to him and it is agonizing. I'm incredibly worried and... sad.

Bixby and Batavia have tried to cheer me up but it's been difficult for that to work itself out. I truly wasn't prepared to see George leave.

I'd taken his message to heard. "It's never goodbye, just... 'I'll see you later.'"

Later seemed so far away.

The following Saturday we played for the Quidditch Cup against Ravenclaw.

The game itself really isn't important. Ron broke out of his shell and came in clutch, saving the game. We won.

What matters is that while we were playing, Harry and Hermione met Hagrid's brother, Grawp.

"He brought one back and hid it in the forest?" Batavia squeaked when they told us. "A real bloody giant?"

"Yes," Hermione said. "Grawp is about sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up twenty foot pine trees, and knows me as Hermy."

"And Hagrid wants us to teach him English?" Ron asked with a nervous laugh. "He's lost his mind."

"Yes," Hermione said firmly. "Yes I'm starting to think he has. But unfortunately, he made Harry and me promise."

"Well you're just going to have to break your promise, that's all," Ron said. "I mean come on, we've got exams and are close enough from getting chucked out as it is. And anyway, remember Norbert? Remember Aragog? Have we ever come off better for mixing with any of Hagrid's monster mates?"

"I know," Hermione said softly. "It's just that— we promised."

Ron sighed and smoothed his hair back. "Well Hagrid hasn't been sacked yet, has he? He's hung on this long, maybe he'll hang on til the end of the term and we won't have to go near Grawp at all."

"You guys are such babies," Bixby said, smirking as Katie rolled her eyes at him. "I'll teach him English myself!"

"Have fun getting murdered," Batavia said, smirking.

"Unlike you, I have the skills for working with creatures, Batty."

"Unlike you I have common sense and know what situations to avoid so I don't get killed."

"Touché."  
  


After Quidditch season ended, exams began. I wouldn't say the NEWTs for Potions and Transfiguration were all too difficult— in fact, I'm certain I aced them.

The difficult part was not killing Umbridge after she got McGonagall hospitalized for defending Hagrid, who Umbridge drove out of Hogwarts.

"I fucking hate her," Bixby snapped, sitting back on the couch.

"I second that," Batavia said.

"What I wouldn't do to wring her stupid, thick neck," Katie snarled, leaning onto Bixby.

"I need a knife," Bixby said, growling and looking at his hand as if he expected one to appear.

Absentmindedly, I thought of a knife appearing in his hand.

When it did, Batavia jumped about a mile.

"What the—?" She looked at me and squealed. "Beth!"

"Huh?" I said, blinking quickly and snapping back to reality.

"You summoned the knife!"

I looked at the knife, perplexed. "Wait— I did?"

"Try summoning something else— go on!"

I held my hand out, my eyes wide. What if it had been something else? I didn't want to get my hopes up.

When the knife in Bixby's hand materialized in my hand, Katie and Batavia shrieked happily and ambushed me with a hug.

"You— have— your powers!" Batavia squealed.

"Holy fucking shit," I murmured, observing my hand. "I do— and it didn't hurt..."

"Maybe that rest is what you needed to replenish your strength," Bixby theorized. "Beth— this is amazing."

I held my hand up to the light. "It... it would seem so..."

The Common Room door burst open and Harry, out of breath, ran in.

"What's going in?" I asked frantically.

"I-We— need your help," he said. "All of you."

"What for?" I asked, jumping up.

Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Luna ran in right behind him.

"What the bloody hell is happening?" Bixby demanded.

"Harry," Hermione panted. "Says he had a dream after the test— that V-Voldemort— has got Sirius—"

"—in the Department of Mysteries," Harry finished, looking anxious.

"What?" Bixby spluttered. "But it's a dream—"

"It's not a normal dream," Harry insisted, looking right at me. "I saw it—"

"Harry," I said immediately, having a bad feeling about it. "It— it might not be real."

"It is!" He snapped, making me flinch. "We need your help to distract Umbridge so I can use her fire to check Grimmauld Place— are you in or out?"

My jaw tightened. "Fine— but if he isn't there we will NOT go barging into the Ministry, we'll call for help."

"We'll decide later," Harry snapped.

"Well what's the plan?" Katie asked quickly, looking very startled.

"I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something," Ron offered, biting his lip. "It's miles from her office. Come to think of it, I could probably persuade Peeves to do it if I meet him on the way."

"Luna and I will stand on the ends of the corridor and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garroting Gas," Ginny said automatically, making me wonder how she'd come this prepared. She saw my shocked look and smiled. "Fred and George were planning to do it before they left."

"Okay," I said immediately, feeling a tightness in my chest. "So where do we go?"

"With Ron," Harry said. "Hurry!"

He, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna darted out, and Ron waved for us to follow him.

"Katie stay here," Bixby said, holding his hand out to block her. "It's better you don't get involved."

"But I want to!" She said.

Bixby looked worried.

"Fine," he said. "But if Umbridge suspects us, get out."

With that he took her hand and Batavia grabbed my arm and we ran behind Ron.

I was incredibly confused, but went along with it.

We found Umbridge near the Great Hall, having just spoken to Filch.

"Professor!" Ron cried, "Peeves is destroying the Transfiguration department and he's heading for the Arithmancy classroom!"

Umbridge looked at him, slightly taken aback. Then she narrowed her eyes at me.

"Really?" She asked. "And did you tell him anything?"

"He won't listen to us—"

"Funny," she said coldly, "I recall him listening to your every instruction since the twin brats left. How many times must I remind you not to tell lies, Miss Potter? You and your friends are up to something, aren't you?"

Crap.

"No—" I began.

Umbridge's eyes widened.

"You're coming straight to my office," she said, an evil glint in her eyes.

"What?" Ron asked. "We're reporting an incident—"

"Inquisitorial Squad!" Umbridge sang, which made several Slytherins turn. "Seize them."

"What—?"

Immediately several Slytherins ran up. Bixby punched Warrington as he tried to go for Katie, and pushed her out of the way. Katie sprinted down the hall as she'd been instructed to do, and no one chased her. Theodore Nott ran up and twisted my arm behind my back, making me cry out in pain. Crabbe and Goyle held onto Ron forcefully.

"To my office, immediately," Umbridge said.

I kicked Nott hard in the shins and he slammed me against the wall, growling.

"Your redheaded boyfriend isn't here to save you now, is he?" He sneered, making me cry out in pain as he pushed my head again, causing the skin to burst.

He then dragged me behind the other Slytherins who had a hold of Ron, Bixby, and Batavia.

Umbridge went into her office and asked us to wait outside. We heard some shouting and within minutes more members of the Inquisitorial Squad appeared with Ginny, Luna, and Neville too, who tried to stop them from taking Ginny.

Malfoy urged us inside, the Slytherins gagging us now.

"Got em all," Warrington said, taking me from Nott. He smirked and twisted my arm harder behind my back.

I felt the skin on my hands burn the way it had the night Umbridge caught us. I didn't feel it safe to use my powers.

Too much emotion. Too much emotion.

"So, Mr Potter," Umbridge trilled, looking right at Harry. "You stationed lookouts around my office and sent these four" she nodded to Ron, Bixby, Batavia, and I "to tell me the poltergeist was wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department when I knew perfectly well he was busy smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes— Mr Filch having just informed me so."

I cursed internally. If Harry had given us more time we'd have planned better.

"Clearly it was very important for you to talk to somebody," Umbridge said. "Was it Albus Dumbledore? Or the half breed, Hagrid? I doubt it was Minerva McGonagall, I hear she's still to ill to talk to anyone...."

The Inquisitorial Squad members laughed.

My hands were burning more. I had to stop my power from bursting out because as angry as I was right now, I might kill Nott and Umbridge.

"It's none of your business who I talk to," Harry said flatly.

"Very well," Umbridge said, rolling her eyes. "I offered you the chance to tell me freely, Mr Potter. You refused. I suppose I must force you. Draco— fetch Professor Snape."

There was a dreadful silence as Malfoy left.

I tried to plan as quickly as I could. But what could be done now?

After a short while, Snape walked in, Malfoy at his heels.

"Severus," Umbridge said sweetly. "Could you bring me a flask of Veritaserum?"

Snape looked annoyed.

"I've already told you," Snape said. "That I have no further stocks of Veritaserum. It will take a month to brew more. Unless you wish to poison Mr Potter— and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did— I cannot help you. The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast to give the victim much time for truth telling."

He was lying! Veritaserum didn't take a month to brew!

"You're on probation!" Umbridge spat furiously. "You're being deliberately unhelpful! I expected better, Lucius Malfoy always speaks most highly of you! Get out of my office!"

Snape looked at me, then turned to leave.

"He's got Padfoot!" Harry gasped. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"

Despite a very serious facial expression, the flicker in Snape's eyes made me realize he had an idea of what Harry meant.

"Padfoot?" Umbridge asked. "What is a Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What does he mean, Snape?"

"I have no idea," Snape said. "Potter, when I want nonsense shouted at me I shall give you a Babbling Beverage."

I looked right into Snape's eyes.

" _Harry had a dream," I thought. "He saw Voldemort had Sirius in the Department of Mysteries. He didn't give me more details."_

 _"I'll notify the Order," Snape thought back_.

"Severus?" Umbridge snapped. "What are you still doing here?"

"Debating whether I should bring you a poison or not," he said, turning on his heel and left.

Harry looked at me and I blinked slowly. He nodded.

"Very well," Umbridge said, pacing and staring right at me. "I am left with no alternative. You are forcing me Potter... I do not want to... but some circumstances justify the use... I am sure the Minister will understand I had no choice... the Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue. Nott, bring me that girl."

"NO!" Harry shouted.

"Professor," Malfoy said when Nott shoved me forward. Everyone turned to him in shock. "She's fragile— you could kill her."

Harry was staring at Malfoy in disbelief.

"Good thinking Draco," she said a bit coldly, like she didn't care, but was willing to listen because... well... it was a Malfoy telling her she shouldn't do something. "Bring me the boy."

Malfoy did not hesitate to grab Harry and drag him to Umbridge, who pressed her wand to his forehead.

"The Minister wouldn't want you to break the law, Professor Umbridge!" Hermione wailed.

"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him!" Umbridge said as she looked at me with a sadistic pleasure. "He never knew I ordered the Dementors to go after the Potters last summer, but he was delighted to be given the chance to expel them all the same."

"It was you?" I snarled, feeling a small burst of energy exit my body. Nott hissed and let go of me. "You sent the Dementors after us?"

"Somebody had to act," she said, pressing her wand harder onto Harry's forehead. "They were all bleating about silencing you somehow, but I was the only one who did something about it. Wriggled out of that one, didn't you, Potter? Then you and that Weasley boy wriggled yourselves out of trouble thanks to Dumbledore, didn't you? Not this time, no. Let's see how long it takes for you to crack after you hear your brother scream."

"Don't you dare," I said, my hands crackling with electricity.

Umbridge hesitated when she saw my hands, then her jaw locked. "Cru—"

"NO!" Hermione wailed, "no— we have to tell her!"

"What?" I snapped, the energy dying down.

Batavia seemed to catch on first.

"It isn't worth him getting hurt!" She cried. "H-Hermione's right!"

"Batavia—" Bixby said, a slight smirk on his face. "We aren't supposed to tell her— I-I'll just take Harry's place—"

"We shouldn't hide it anymore!" Hermione cried. "Let's... let's just tell her."

"Well well well!" Umbridge said triumphantly. "Little Miss Question all is going to give us some answers! Come on then, girl, come on!"

"I'm sorry everyone," Hermione said. "Well... Harry was trying to speak to Professor Dumbledore."

What the hell was she planning?

Umbridge swiftly took her wand away from Harry's forehead.

"You know where Dumbledore is then?" Umbridge asked.

"Well... no!" Hermione sobbed. "We've tried the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley and the Three Broomsticks and even the Hog's Head—"

"Idiot girl! Dumbledore won't be sitting in a pub when the whole Ministry's looking for him!" Umbridge said.

"He's brilliant," I said, hoping that my understanding of what Hermione was doing was correct. "He's a master of disguise. We just had to tell him it's ready and that we need him to come back!"

Hermione flashed me a smile, which let me know I'd said the right thing.

"What's ready?" Umbridge said.

"The weapon!" Hermione said.

"Weapon?" Umbridge asked. "You've been developing some method of resistance? A weapon to use against the Ministry? On Dumbledore's orders, of course?"

"Yes," Batavia said, her lip trembling. "Now we've finished it for him and we need to find him to tell him!"

"What kind of weapon is it?" Umbridge snapped.

"We— We're not all too sure," Bixby said, looking at me a bit nervously. "We just did what Dumbledore told us to do, but we don't actually get what it's supposed to do... that's why we needed to talk to him... so he could help us."

"Lead me to the weapon," Umbridge said immediately. I looked at Hermione. Now we were screwed. We didn't have anything to lead her to.

"I'll lead you," Hermione said quickly, which gave me a ray of hope. "But I'm not showing THEM." She nodded to the Slytherins.

"It's not for you to set conditions!" Umbridge barked.

"Fine," Hermione said. "Fine, let them see it. I hope they use it on you! In fact, I wish you'd invite loads and loads of people to come and see! That would serve you right! Oh I'd love it is the whole school knew where it was and how to use it, and then they could annoy you with it and sort you out!"

Hermione had never looked so dangerous.

"All right then dear," Umbridge said, apparently having taken the words to heard. "Just you, me, and the Potters."

"Yes," Hermione said, blinking to me.

" _What the hell are you doing?" I thought._

 _"You'll see!" She thought back, although I sensed she was nervous_.

"Professor Umbridge," Nott said, "I think some of the Squad should come with you to look after—"

"I am a fully qualified Ministry official, Nott, do you really think I cannot manage three wandless teenagers alone?" Umbridge asked. "In any case, it does not sound as though this weapon is something schoolchildren should see. You will remain here until I return and make sure none of the others escape."

"But the girl—"

"Has no powers!" Umbridge said gleefully. "Her hands are burning again— look at the faces she's making."

"If they're burning it's because she has some powers," Nott hissed.

Umbridge faltered.

"Miss Hoganson will come instead of Miss Potter then," Umbridge said, reaching over and yanking Batavia over to her.

"Let go of her!" Bixby snarled, launching himself forward. Warrington slammed him back against the wall.

"We'll return shortly," Umbridge said. "Come, Potter, Granger, Hoganson."

Batavia looked at me and nodded slightly before following Harry and Hermione out.

Warrington chuckled. "So, Potter," he said, coming over and snatching me out of Nott's grip, pushing me against the wall. "What are you willing to do to let your friends out? We can work a deal...."

I pushed him off me as his eyes scanned my body.

"Sod off, Warrington," I snapped.

"You could give us Slytherin blokes a chance, you know," he said, holding me roughly. "Pucey tried before and you almost let him...."

"Pucey didn't stand a chance and neither do you," I snarled.

"Come on... I bet you and I will be Head Boy and Girl next year.... we'll have to share a dormitory, won't we?" He leaned closer.

"Get the hell off her, Warrington," Bixby snarled, struggling against the headlock Nott had him in.

Ginny, Luna, and Neville looked at me as though I was supposed to come up with a plan.

I had an idea.

"Fine, Warrington," I said, a malicious smirk on my face. I leaned back, my hips grinding slightly against him. "Come on..."

Warrington smirked as the others stared at me in horror. Right as he leaned in, I shifted my fingers to become like leeches and slapped him across the face, causing him to scream as blood trickled down his face.

Warrington staggered back as I summoned my wand into my hand and shot a hex, causing Crabbe and Goyle to release Ron and Neville as they crashed to the floor. Neville and Ron then stood up quickly and began firing spells.

Bixby kicked Nott and then whirled around to punch him. Ginny slashed her wand through the air and cast a brilliant Bat Bogey Hex, which made Malfoy and Parkinson yell.

"Run— now!" I screamed.

Neville and Ron grabbed Luna and Ginny and sprinted out. Bixby knocked Nott out and I whipped my wand around to stun all the Slytherins before running out and locking the door from the inside, leaving them trapped.

I summoned all their wands and left them at the door, smirking.

"Badass," Bixby breathed, wiping the blood off my forehead. "I was really scared you were gonna let Warrington..."

"Never, yuck," I said, cleaning his face with my sleeve. "You're gonna have a nasty bruise on your eye..."

"It's worth it," he said, laughing. "Now— we really should go find out where Harry, Hermione, and my sister went."

"Yep," I said, running down the hall.

When we reached the grounds, my ears perked at the sound of a loud roar.

"They must be in the forest!" Bixby cried, leading us there. We all ran behind him and stood at the edge, hearing screaming and loud hoofbeats inside.

"What the HELL was Hermione planning?" I hissed.

"No idea but if it hurts Batavia I'll kill her," Bixby growled, pacing. "Should— should we go in?"

"I can summon them," I said, rubbing my hands together. "Do you think it'd mess up their plan?"

Bixby bit his lip as another loud scream rang out. "Fuck it— summon them."

I raised my hands and Harry, Hermione, and Batavia crashed down.

"What the hell?" Batavia squeaked, standing up shakily.

"What the hell were you doing in there?" I asked.

"Tell us first— how the HELL did you guys get away?" Hermione asked in disbelief as I summoned their wands and handed it to them.

"Couple of Stunners, a Disarming Charm, Neville brought off a really nice little Impediment Jinx," Ron said. "Ginny got Malfoy with a Bat Bogey Hex. It was superb— his whole face was covered in the great flapping things. Beth was the best though— she tricked Warrington and made her fingers LEECHES to make him pass out!"

"Tricked Warrington?" Batavia asked, her eyes wide.

"He was going to cut us a horrible deal that I'd pay the price for," I said, rolling my eyes. "Served him right."

"Definitely," Harry said. "Well erm— how did you find us?"

"The roaring and screaming gave it away," Bixby said. "Now... What've you done with Umbridge?"

"She got carried away by a herd of centaurs," Harry said pleasantly.

"And they left you behind?" Ginny asked in disbelief.

"No they got chased off by Grawp," Harry said.

There was a beat of silence before Ron asked how we were supposed to get to the Ministry.

"We'll have to fly won't we?" Luna said suddenly. "To get to London?"

"What?" Ginny asked. "But how—"

"Okay," Harry said. "First of all, 'we' aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron and Beth are the only ones with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll so I think that sums it up—"

"I have a broom!" Ginny said.

"You're not coming!" Ron said angrily.

"I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!" Ginny said.

"You're too—" Harry began.

"I'm three years older than you were when you and Beth fought You Know Who over the Philosophers Stone," Ginny said indignantly. "And it's because of me that Malfoy is stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flying bogies attacking him."

"Yeah but—"

"We were all in the DA together," Neville said. "It was all supposed to be about fighting You Know Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real— or was that all just a game or something?"

"Of course not," Harry said.

"Then we should come too," Neville said. "We want to help."

"That's right," Luna said happily.

"No—" I said, looking around. "No— NONE of us should go. Snape's alerting the Order, we should stay—"

"IF WE WAIT ANY LONGER SIRIUS COULD BE KILLED!" Harry bellowed.

"IT COULD BE A TRAP!" I screamed. "We should wait for the Order—"

"You should care more and just force yourself to summon him here—"

"It won't work across the border Harry, and certainly not from that far away—"

"Then you understand we need to go—"

"HARRY IT ISN'T SAFE—"

"I CAN'T SIT BACK AND LET HIM DIE—"

"BATAVIA AND I CAN GO WITH BETH, HARRY, WE'RE THE OLDEST—"

"I NEED TO GO TOO BIXBY—"

"Shut UP!" Batavia cried, making us all look at her. "Clearly we can't stop anyone from going because you all happen to be the most stubborn IDIOTS of the century. Either way, we're safer if more of us go."

"Well it doesn't matter anyway," Harry said, "because we still don't know how to get there."

"I thought we'd settled that," Luna said indignantly. "We're flying!"

"Look," Ron said in an irritated voice, "you might be able to fly without a broomstick but the rest of us can't sprout wings whenever we—"

"There are ways of flying other than with broomsticks," Luna said.

I felt something tap my shoulder. I turned and saw Tenebrus, trying to tap my face with his nose.

"Yes!" I cried, making everyone jump. "Yes, Tenebrus, YOU can fly, and you've got a great sense of direction!" I caressed his face, making him nicker happily.

"Is it those mad horse things?" Ron asked. "Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?"

"Yes," I said. "Tenebrus, baby, be a dear and call six more of your friends, please."

"Eight?" Hermione asked, "we need only—"

"Everyone is coming," I said as Tenebrus neighed loudly. "Batavia settled that, Hermione, we can't stop anyone from going, it seems. I would prefer no one went but I don't think there's hope for that."

"Don't be stupid we can't all go!" Harry said, scowling at me. "Look you three" he pointed at Ginny, Luna, and Neville "you're not involved in this, you're not—"

Tenebrus tapped me again to let me know that eight more thestrals had come.

"There are enough thestrals here now," I said. "I say if we're going at all, then everyone comes. We need all the help we can get."

"But—" Harry began.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER," I hissed, a small ring of energy bursting out of me. "I don't think ANYONE should be going but you're not listening to me, so I will agree with Batavia— we all go or none of us go. We don't know what we're going to be dealing with, and the more we have the better off we are. I would rather that we WAIT until Snape alerts the Order but since you're so intent on going we can't waste another minute."

Harry was silent and nodded slowly.

"Good," I said. "Now— Neville and Harry, we need to help the others on because they can't see the thestrals."

Now as I look back on it, I wish we had never gone to the Ministry.


	62. Chapter 62

It didn't take us too long to reach the Ministry.

I was surprised, for starters, that Bixby had managed to fall asleep on a thestral he couldn't even see. I was even more surprised to see Ron was flying closely to Hermione, reassuring her it would be okay. (She hates flying).

"Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two!" Harry said when we reached the telephone booth to enter.

Ron did this, which made a cool female voice say "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

I cleared my throat.

"Elizabeth Potter," I said clearly. "Harry Potter, Bixby Hoganson, Batavia Hoganson, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood."

"We're here to save someone," Harry piped up, "unless your Ministry can do it first."

I rolled my eyes at him.

I felt incredibly nervous.

"Thank you," the voice said. "Visitors, please take the badge and attach them to the front of your robes."

The badges slid out with our names and "Rescue Mission" on them. I distributed them quickly to everyone.

The booth shook and we all stood firmly, breathing heavily.

"Please stay together," I murmured. "If Bixby, Batavia, or I tell you to do something, DO it."

"Why Bixby and Batavia—"

"We're the oldest," I hissed to Harry. "We are in charge, okay?"

Harry scowled and the booth came to a halt, opening and sending us straight into the Ministry's visitor path.

"Okay Harry, lead us," I said, waving for the others to follow him as he broke into a sprint.

We ran past the empty booths and fireplaces, and the darkness surrounding us made me nervous.

Something was wrong. I knew it.

"Okay listen," Harry said once we got there, "maybe a couple of people should stay here as a lookout—"

"No," I said, holding my hand up. "We do NOT separate. "We have no communication system between us and we have no idea how big this place is. Plus— if Death Eaters come in, we'd be leaving a few people very vulnerable. We are staying together until we are forced apart."

"Forced apart?" Luna inquired.

"If Voldemort is here you best believe there are Death Eaters here," I said, making everyone look down nervously. "If a fight breaks out— SAVE YOURSELVES. If a small group needs to break apart to escape, do it, as long as you are not ALONE."

Harry nodded grimly. "Okay... good thinking. Let's go this way."

We walked onward. Harry opened the door he'd described from his dream. As we walked over the threshold I gasped.

The room was large, circular. Every single thing inside was black, even the ceiling and the floor. The doors inside were identical, without marks, and they did not have handles. Between the doors along the walls were blue flamed candles. It was an ominous setting that sent chills down my spine. I pressed myself closer to Harry automatically, my arm going to cover his chest and stop him from moving forward, because my spine was tingling.

"Someone shut the door," Harry murmured. Neville turned back to close it.

"No— stop," I said right before Neville shut it.

"Is something wrong?" Neville asked fearfully.

"Let me just check something out, do not close that door until I say to."

I concentrated and my eyes became that of a cat's, scanning the darkness.

I noticed there were gears and metal rails around— almost as if the walls could rotate around the door. I felt an idea snap into my mind.

"Okay," I said, breathing deeply. "The room— it's wired to shift the wall's position. If we don't mark the door, we're going to lose the exit— Flagrate!"

A fiery red X appeared over the door.

"Okay light your wands and close the door, Neville," I said, raising my wand.

As soon as Neville shut the door, there was a crack, and the candles on the wall began to rotate clockwise. The wall was indeed moving.

When all movement ceased, the door we'd entered through was in front of us.

"Good job, Beth," Batavia murmured, holding onto Bixby's arm and looking around.

"Time to search," I mumbled, feeling my fingers tingling with sparks. Not safe to use my powers just yet. "Harry— we'll check as many as we can, as quietly as we can."

"Yeah," he mumbled. "In the dreams I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts into a dark room— that's this one— and then I went through another door into a room that kind of glitters. I'll know the right way when I see it."

"I really wish you'd told me about these dreams earlier," I mumbled as he step forward and pushed the nearest door open. It swung open immediately.

There was no glittering at all. It was empty, with a mere few desks and a huge tank in the center of the room with disturbingly green water. Some objects like jellyfish were swimming around in it.

"What are those things?" Ron whispered.

"Fish?" Ginny asked.

"Aquavirius maggots!" Luna said. I stared at them a bit longer.

"Tentacles," I mumbled. "Bixby— is this some sort of creature?"

He came closer and shook his head. "That's not any creature I know— they just look like brains. The tentacles seem to have.. acid on them. Look how it's bubbling.... we shouldn't touch these. Ever."

"Don't need to tell me twice," Batavia said, looking away from them. "They're gross."

"Marvelous," Bixby corrected her. "But dangerous..."

"Let's get out of here. This isn't right, we need to try another door," Harry said, looking all over. "In my dream I went through that dark room into the second one. I think we should go back and try from there."

We walked back into the dark room.

"Flagrate," I said, swishing my wand slightly differently. An orange X appeared.

"Orange?" Bixby mumbled.

"We'll go in order of the rainbow to know which doors we went through in what order," I said softly as Harry went through another door.

"Smart," Batavia said as we followed my brother.

This room was bigger and was more rectangular shaped. It had a huge pit in the middle from the floor sinking in. There was an archway in the center with a curtain laying over it.

"Is it just me," I said, stepping closer to the archway, "or are there voices in there?"

"Bixby," Batavia said, narrowing her eyes. "Didn't... didn't Dad tell us about an archway called the 'Arc of Death?' Didn't he say the veil... preserves souls and is a portal to death?"

Bixby flinched at the mention of his father.

"It's a bridge between life and death," he said quietly. "The Ministry is still investigating it but as far as they know... no living person that goes in can come out."

"Wicked," Ginny said, craning her neck. "So does that mean there's people in there?"

"That's what they've theorized," Bixby said, wincing. "Guys can we please go? There isn't anything in there..."

"Yeah," I said, waving for everyone to follow me out. I marked this door with a yellow X.

We moved onto the next door and it was locked. Batavia and I's spells didn't work and Sirius' knife didn't open it either. Instead it just melted.

"Oh Merlin," I gasped, taking the blade. It was destroyed. "That's definitely not it."

"Right we're leaving that room," Hermione decided.

"What if that's the one?" Ron asked.

"It can't be," Harry said, "I got through the doors without a problem in my dream."

"What could be in there?" Luna asked, touching the door.

"Not anything we should probably be seeing," I said, sensing bad energy.

Harry pushed open another door and gasped, tugging at my shirt.

The room was beautiful. There was light dancing across the room in a glittery fashion, bouncing off the walls and making it look almost like it was decorated for an elegant party.

"This is it!" He said. He walked into the room and the rest of us followed.

"Oh look!" Ginny said, pointing into a bell jar.

Inside was a gorgeous little egg. A hummingbird emerged from it then suddenly it was once again inside the egg.

"That's magnificent," Bixby breathed as Ginny and I stopped to observe. "I wonder what it is... That's another creature I've never heard of... wow... it's fascinating, isn't it? Could be a distant relative of the phoenix..."

"Keep going!" Harry said sharply. Ginny stared at him indignantly.

"You dawdled enough by that old arch!" She said crossly, reluctantly following Harry as Bixby tapped the glass around the jar and solemnly followed us.

"This is it," Harry said. "It's through here."

The rows of orbs were now in front of us, enormous and grand.

"Have your wands ready, everyone," I mumbled. "If this is the place we have to be ready to fire spells instantly."

There was a murmur of assent, and I felt the atmosphere grow thick with worry.

"How are you with your powers, Beth?" Batavia asked as Bixby looked around.

"I think they're fine but I'm not using them unless I really have to," I said, biting my lip.

Batavia nodded slowly and looked at her brother, who nodded as well.

"Row ninety seven right?" Luna asked.

"Yes....we need go right I think, that's fifty four," Harry said.

We crept down the rows slowly. I felt someone else was in the room and it wasn't Sirius...something was so so wrong..

I was intimidated by the orbs. They were rather small but the light reflected across them in an eerie manner. I could nearly see my reflection in them.

"Ninety seven!" Hermione said.

We walked to it. There was nobody here.

"He's right down at the end...you can't see properly from here," Harry said.

I walked forward. Nobody was there either.

"Something is really wrong you guys I swear I have a bad feeling about this," I mumbled. Harry wasn't listening but Hermione stared at me with wide eyes.

I looked around at the orbs. I jumped when I thought I saw a figure pass through one.

"There's someone else here but it isn't Sirius you guys HAVE to believe me," I said.

"I saw him!" Harry snapped.

"I don't think Sirius is here," I said. He gave me a nasty look and ignored me.

"Harry this has got your name on it," Ron said. We all turned in surprise.

He pointed at an orb on the shelf.

"That's a prophecy, that is," Bixby said. "That— I remember now... my father told us about this room..."

Harry looked at the orb curiously.

"Don't grab it," Bixby warned. Harry scowled and snatched the orb off the shelf.

"Harry James Potter!" I cried. "Put the orb back!"

"It's got my name on it!" Harry said.

"Harry, put it back," Bixby said firmly. "Only the person whose name is on prophecies can retrieve them. Harry— seriously."

"Quit telling me what to do, Bixby," Harry snapped.

I heard a noise and whipped around, seeing the unmistakable figure of my Lucius Malfoy stepping out of the shadows with his wand pointed at Harry.

"Very good, Potter. Now turn around nice and slowly and give that to me."

More Death Eaters began to emerge from the rows, surrounding us.

"Good thing you had us all come," Hermione squeaked to me, seeing we were only outnumbered by two Death Eaters.

"To me Potter," Malfoy repeated.

"Where's Sirius?" Harry asked.

"The Dark Lord always knows!" A female voice cackled.

I looked around— where had that voice come from?

"I told you it was a trap!" I hissed to Harry.

"Give me the prophecy Potter!" Malfoy snapped.

"I want to know where Sirius is!" Harry snapped.

"I want to know where Sirius is!" The female voice mocked. It had moved locations.

"You've got him!" Harry said. "He's here. I know he is."

"The wittle baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twooo," she said in a baby voice. As the woman stepped out of the shadows I gritted my teeth.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," I said, remembering the Prophet article with her picture after the Azkaban breakout.

"Don't do anything, not yet," Harry whispered to Ron, looking at me. I nodded.

"You hear him?" Bellatrix said with a loud cackle- scream. "Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!"

"Oh you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," Malfoy said. "He and his sister both have a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about them. Now give me the prophecy, Potter."

"I know Sirius is here! I know you've got him!" Harry cried.

"It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter. Now give me the prophecy before we start using wands," Malfoy said.

"Go on then," Harry urged. He raised his wand and caused a ripple effect.

"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," Malfoy growled.

"And you'll just let us skip off home?" I asked sarcastically.

Bellatrix raised her wand. "Accio Proph—"

She wasn't quick enough. I blocked her spell, sending her wand flying across the room.

"You could've smashed it!" Malfoy snarled to Bellatrix as she stared at me with loathing.

"Need more persuasion?" She asked Harry and I coolly. "Broderick!"

Bixby tensed beside me, and stared fixedly at Bellatrix.

Out of the shadows emerged a familiar figure.

"Dad," Batavia squeaked softly, looking in horror at her father.

"Batavia," Mr Hoganson said sharply. "Bixby... nice to see that you haven't learned not to meddle in things that don't concern you."

"Don't speak to my sister," Bixby snarled.

Mr Hoganson laughed maliciously. "So Bella, Potter needs convincing, does he? Why, I believe if we tortured his sister and my daughter, he'd crack... it'll be fun."

Bixby moved, shielding his sister.

"You touch her, and I will kill you," Bixby spat, breathing heavily.

Mr Hoganson licked his lips. Batavia looked at her father wide eyed.

"You hurt them," I said, my voice unnaturally steady, "and we'll smash the fucking prophecy."

"Language, Elizabeth," Mr Hoganson hissed.

"I'm sure the Dark Lord will be so pleased when you smash the prophecy trying to attack us," I challenged. Mr Hoganson narrowed his eyes at me and lowered his wand slightly.

"So, what kind of prophecy are we talking about?" Harry asked abruptly, looking at me out of the corner of his eye.

"You jest!" Bellatrix said without amusement. "Did Dumbledore not tell you?"

"No. Why does Voldemort want it?" Harry asked.

"You dare speak his name?" Bellatrix whispered, looking horrified.

"Yeah I do!" Harry said boldly. "I have no problem saying Volde—"

"Shut your mouth!" Bellatrix snarled angrily. "Speaking his name with your unworthy lips...you dare besmirch it with your half blood tongue—"

"His mother was a witch and dad a Muggle," I announced. "Has he been telling you lot he's pure?"

"STUPEF—"

"NO!" Mr Hoganson spat, pushing Bellatrix back. "Don't attack, Bella, we need that prophecy!"

"THEY DARE STAND THERE— FILTHY HALF BLOOD—"

"WAIT UNTIL WE'VE GOT THE PROPHECY!"

Harry took a slight step forward.

"You haven't told me what's so special about this prophecy!" Harry said.

"Don't play games with us, Potter!" Malfoy snapped.

"I'm not playing games," Harry said innocently.

"Dumbledore never told you the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?" Malfoy sneered.

Harry remained silent.

"Can this be? Dumbledore really never told you?" Malfoy began. He continued to speak but I wasn't listening.

"When I say go," I began to whisper to the others. "Smash shelves— stupefy— anything." Hermione nodded.

Harry and Malfoy were arguing. This was the time.

"NOW!" I cried.

Everyone shot a Reducto spell.

"RUN!" Harry yelled loudly.

I pushed Bixby and Batavia out of the way before pressing my hands to the shelves, reverse summoning their bases and making them crash down on the oncoming Death Eaters.

Bixby reached back and dragged me behind him. We ran into a room, and when Hermione shut the door and that's when we realized Ron, Ginny, and Luna were not with us.

"Where are the others?" I asked fearfully.

"They must have gone the wrong way!" Hermione whispered. Neville gasped.

"Listen!" He said.

Someone was shouting and walking. At first I thought perhaps it was the others trying to find us but then I heard Malfoy's voice.

"Leave Nott, leave him I say! The Dark Lord will not care for Nott's injuries as much as that prophecy," Malfoy spat. "Jugson, come back here we need to organize! We'll split into pairs and search. Don't forget, be gentle with the boy Potter until we've got the prophecy— you can kill the others if necessary. Especially the girl Potter. Bellatrix and Rodolphus— take left. Crabbe, Rabastan— go right. Jugson, Dolohov— door straight ahead. Hoganson and Avery through here. Rookwood there and Mulciber with me!"

"We have to get away from this door," I said quickly, urging everyone to run past the hummingbird egg and nearly made it out of the hall.

Something large and heavy collided with one of the doors Hermione had charmed shut.

"Stand aside! Alohomora!"

We scrambled to hide under the desks.

Two Death Eaters came in. Their robes slid across the floor with a delicate hiss.

"Might've run straight through to the hall," the Death Eater who had opened the door said.

"Check under the desks," the other said. I crawled quickly to the other side, diving behind a large shelf. Bixby followed me, his wand raised. Just as they bent down, we Stunned one of the Death Eaters.

Harry jumped out from under the desk and tackled the other Death Eater and I pulled Hermione and Batavia out.

"Bombarda!" I screamed, making the shelf break and sent books flying onto the heads of the Death Eater.

"Expelliarmus!" Neville yelled. Harry and the Death Eater's wands flew across the room. I waved my wand and summoned Harry's back, tossing it to him.

The Death Eater was distracted, which gave me the perfect opportunity to cast a hex.

He cried out as he began to bleed out of his eye sockets and collapsed on the ground.

I heard a loud scream and a gigantic crash.

"RON? GINNY? LUNA?" Harry yelled.

"Come on! They're in trouble!" I shouted, seizing his arm and leading everyone back into the black hallway.

"Collo—" I began to cast before two new Death Eaters cast an Impediment Spell.

I screamed as the blast knocked us over the desks. I landed on top of Bixby, who groaned as I knocked the wind out of him.

"Holy shit are you okay?" I cried, scrambling to stand up.

"Yeah—" he wheezed painfully. Batavia and I hoisted him up and dragged him forward.

"WE'VE GOT HIM! IN AN OFFICE!" The Death Eater closest to Harry yelled. "IN AN OFFI—"

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry said. The man lay paralyzed like a board on the floor.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a movement. I slashed my wand again, hitting a Death Eater and making him wail loudly as thick green vines began to sprout from his ears and nostrils.

Another Death Eater I hadn't noticed until now sliced his wand through the air releasing a purple streak. It hit Hermione in the chest. She crumpled to the floor.

"HERMIONE!" I screamed. I turned to the Death Eater in fury. Without thinking I turned into an eagle, screeching as I flew forward and clawed at his eyes. He cried out and collapsed.

Neville crawled out to where Hermione was. Out of nowhere the now unparalyzed Death Eater aimed a kick. It hit Neville squarely in the face. He howled in pain and rolled to the side. His wand, which had been in front of his face, was now snapped in half.

I turned back and just as I lunged forward something caught me around the waist.

The Death Eater whirled me around and threw me back, causing me to hit my head hard on the edge of the table. My vision became blurred, and I distinctly made out the shapes of Bixby and Batavia firing spells at the Death Eater and stunning him.

I got up, my legs shaking, and staggered towards them.

Neville groped around Hermione's neck.

"Dat's a pulse," he said.

"She's alive!" Batavia said, in relief.

"Good," I croaked, holding onto the table.

"Beth!" Bixby said, coming and wrapping his arm around me. "Shit— stop using your powers okay— SAVE them—"

"I'm fine," I said, pushing myself out of his arms. I gasped and looked at him. "We're not far from the exit, we're right next to the circular room. If we can get you across and find the right door before any more Death Eaters come, I'll bet you can get Hermione up the corridor and into the lift...Then you can find someone and raise the alarm."

"I'm not leaving," Bixby said, his jaw tight as he bent down and scooped Hermione up. "We're sticking together, right?"

"Ugh— fine," I hissed as he began to walk out into the other hallway.

When we got there, we found Ron, Ginny, and Luna.

"Hermione!" Luna said. "What happened!"

"Some Death Eater hit her with a spell," I hissed.

Ron giggled and I snapped my head up to look at him.

"No— this ends now," I said, pointing at the dark stuff trickling from his mouth. "Someone needs to take Hermione and Ron out— NOW."

"Beth!" Bixby challenged. "It's not—"

"They are not good to fight— carrying Hermione around will only slow us down. Ginny— can we trust you to take them out? Your ankle isn't going to hold out much longer."

She looked severely bummed out. "But Beth—"

"No buts, Ginny, Mum will kill me if anything else happens to you."

"Beth, this is unreasonable—" Bixby argued.

"It was unreasonable to come here in the first place!" I hissed. "Ginny, you will take them NOW— Ron, help her!"

Ron giggled as Bixby scowled and handed Hermione's body to Ginny. Ron surprisingly made an effort and helped.

"Out that door with a red X, hurry!" I said as they hurried toward it. I rubbed my head, feeling my hand growing wet from the blood.

Once Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were out, Luna looked at me with big eyes.

"They chased us into a dark room with planets," she said dreamily. "Very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark...."

I winced, and looked back at the door the others have gone through.

"There's six of us left," I said, looking around at them. "We stay together, alright?"

"Fine," Harry said, walking toward another door, not aiming for any particular direction.

Another door burst open and Bellatrix and three other Death Eaters came in first, spotting us immediately.

"There they are!" She cried.

"Stupefy!" I screamed. She was knocked back, throwing the other Death Eaters behind.

"Collopurtus!" Harry shouted.

I looked around quickly.

"Harry we're in the Brain Room!" I said. I heard more footsteps running where Harry had just shut the door.

"Shut them all!" I cried. Luna, Bixby, Batavia, and Neville sped into action with Harry and I, shutting the doors as fast as we could.

"Collo— AAHHH!" Luna screamed. I saw her fly in the air. She hit the floor with a loud thud. I lunged forward and moved her out of the way as the Death Eaters barged in.

I waved my wand, making the first two Death Eaters roar as their faces broke out into disgusting boils, making a hissing noise as it burned their skin.

"GET POTTER!" I heard Bellatrix scream.

Batavia dove down and came to my side, panting. Bixby ran to us and we crouched down, seeing the others appeared to be hiding.

"I have a crazy plan," Bixby said, looking over at the searching Death Eaters. "Beth I need you to reverse summon those brains with tentacles onto their faces."

I nodded and held my hands out, concentrating.

The brains shot out and attached themselves to the faces of three Death Eaters, who howled loudly. Bixby looked ecstatic as he yanked Batavia and I to run behind a shelf.

"THERE!"

I barely had time to cast a shield charm before Mr Hoganson and another two Death Eaters popped up, sending spells flying across the air.

Batavia dove to the side and fired a hex at the Death Eaters, while Bixby doubled back and surprised them from behind.

I was left to deal with Mr Hoganson.

He sent a spell and I deflected it, causing him to smirk.

"You can't block me forever!" He spat. "Avada Kedavra!"

I ducked and rolled, turning invisible and hurrying behind him.

This was a mistake.

My form flickered, and in that instant he caught me and tackled me to the ground. There was a loud crack and a sharp pain in my leg and I screamed. A small ring of energy burst out of me and he snarled, punching me hard in the face. I screamed and spat out blood.

He snatched up his wand and pointed at my forehead, breathing heavily as his wild eyes looked at my fearful face.

I couldn't transform.

"I'm the luckiest man alive," he growled, pressing the wand down harder. "I get to finish off Elizabeth Potter. Any last words?"

I tried desperately to push him off, and felt tears in my eyes. Why wasn't any energy bursting out to burn him?

"Avada—"

"PROTEGO!"

Mr Hoganson's body soared back and Batavia ran forward, the side of her face covered in blood.

He lunged forward. "CRUCIO!"

Batavia screamed and collapsed beside me, writhing in pain.

"Batavia... Batavia...." he growled "Stupid, stupid girl. You'd hurt your father? After everything I did for you?"

"You're not my father anymore," she said, her voice shaky as tears welled up in her eyes. "You haven't been since what you did to Kesenia."

Mr Hoganson laughed wryly.

"I think," he spat, taking a knife out, "that you both need to learn some respect for your elders."

He pointed his wand at me. "CRUCIO!"

I screamed loudly, spitting out more blood.

Mr Hoganson knelt beside his daughter and slid the knife's blade over her neck. She was frozen, and just shivering, staring at her father with the widest eyes ever.

"But how about we start with your friend first?" He said, smirking as he noticed Batavia paralyzed in utter fear. He brought the knife over and flicked it, pressing it right under my chin.

I felt blood trickle out of my mouth and looked at him, crying softly.

I made an effort and cried out in pain both from not being able to transform and from the cut he made right under my chin.

I gasped when he stopped, and Mr Hoganson laughed, going to Batavia and cutting a jagged line across her chest.

She screamed, and wailed loudly.

"GET OFF OF HER!"

Mr Hoganson wheeled around just in time to receive a hex to the face from Bixby.

"Insolent brat!" He snarled, throwing the knife. Bixby barely dodged it.

He raised his wand. "Get away from them. Now."

Mr Hoganson wiped the purple liquid flowing out of the gash on his cheek. He smiled maliciously.

"B-B-Bixby—" I stammered. "M-M-Move—"

Bixby stood firm, staring at his father.

Mr Hoganson raised his wand at lightning speed. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"NO!" I screamed, an enormous ring crackling with light and sound bursting out. It hit Mr Hoganson and he gasped, his eyes bulging as he collapsed on the floor.

I sat up, crying out in pain, my watery eyes scanning the room as Batavia jumped up, and ran forward.

"No— no God no—" she screamed, covering her mouth.

I wailed as I grabbed onto the bookshelf and forced my body forward.

I collapsed beside her, and felt my chest tighten.

"Bixby..." Batavia croaked, her face drenched in tears and blood. "Bixby...."

Bixby's eyes reminded me of Cedric's.


	63. Chapter 63

"No— no— no—" Batavia sobbed, caressing Bixby's face. "He's not— he... he isn't..."

I pressed my fingers to his neck and shook my head.

Batavia choked. "You idiot— you absolute idiot why... why did you... Bixby..."

She looked at me, her lips trembling. "H-How the h-hell are w-we going to tell K-Katie?"

"I don't know," I mumbled, leaning forward and slowly closing Bixby's eyes.

Batavia let out a nervous laugh. "H-He's not dead. He isn't. He couldn't be."

"Batavia," I whispered. "You know as well as I do..."

Batavia looked at her brother and shook her head, scrunching her face up as she tried to stop crying. "Damn you," she said, her voice cracking. "Damn you— Bixby. You— You were supposed to walk me down the aisle. You were supposed to marry Katie. You... You loser..."

She leaned down onto his chest.

I looked back and saw Mr Hoganson's cold, dead eyes were staring back at us. I snarled and shapeshifted my hand to extend over and close his eyes, turning his face away.

When my hand returned to normal, it burned, and I gasped.

I looked down at my hand and bit my lip, seeing it was covered in blood again from the burst that'd killed Mr Hoganson.

"He deserved to die in a worse way," Batavia said coldly, looking at her father.

"He did," I mumbled. I summoned a bandage and winced as it caused me pain. I slowly wrapped my hand and then stood up.

"I'm not ready," Batavia whispered, stroking Bixby's hair. "I'm not ready to say goodbye."

My chest tightened. George's words were ringing in my ears.

"Think of it this way," I said quietly. "It's not goodbye. Not really. It's more of a... see you later."

She sniffled. "I-I expected something bad would happen. It's only realistic— a bunch of kids up against a bunch of Death Eaters. B-But I never thought it'd be B-B-Bixby..."

I gently helped her up as she wiped her eyes.

There was a loud yell from the other room.

"Maybe you should stay," I said, the hairs on my arm standing up.

"I can't stay here," Batavia whispered. "Not with their dead bodies just... here..."

She linked her arm in mine and limped beside me, both our wands held high.

"...your race is run!" I heard Malfoy say inside the next room. "Now hand me the prophecy like a good boy..."

"Let the others go! And then I'll give it to you!" Harry cried. I could hear the desperation in his voice. He was acting as though he would sacrifice himself.

"Come on Harry," I mumbled, walking faster. "Don't be stupid..."

"You're in no position to bargain, Potter! You see, there are ten of us and only one of you...or hasn't Dumbledore ever taught you how to count?"

"He's dot alone! He's still god be!" Neville spluttered. "STUBEFY! STUBEFY!"

Batavia and I looked through the doorway just as one of the Death Eaters grabbed him from behind and pinned his arms to his sides.

"Longbottom is it? Your grandmother is used to losing family members to our cause...Your death will not come as a great shock," Malfoy said.

"Longbottom? Why I have had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy," Bellatrix said maniacally. She cackled.

"Wait—" I said slowly to Batavia, pointing my wand through the crack. I could stun Bellatrix right now.

"I DOE YOU HAB!" Neville spat.

"Why don't we see how long Longbottom lasts before he cracks like his parents..." Bellatrix said.

"Don't give it to them, Harry," I mumbled softly. Bellatrix pulled out her wand and pressed it to Neville's face.

"CRUCIO!"

I covered my mouth and tears filled my eyes. Neville writhed on the floor in pain.

The doorway opened abruptly, catching me by surprise, and two Death Eaters yanked Batavia and I inside.

"This one was trying to curse you," the one holding me said, maliciously pushing me forward. The other Death Eater held a paralyzed Batavia firmly.

"Perfect," Bellatrix purred, grabbing me by the hair and causing me to scream as she yanked my neck back forcefully and took out a knife, pressing it against my throat. She looked around suspiciously and her eyes fixated on Batavia.

"Where is Broderick?" She hissed.

The Death Eaters didn't know.

Batavia choked out a sob.

"He's dead," I hissed, trying desperately to get out of Bellatrix's grip. "H-He's dead..."

Harry looked at me wide eyed.

"He killed—" I gasped, my eyes watering. "Bixby..."

"So you killed him, didn't you?" Bellatrix asked, pressing the knife on my throat and cutting a thin line across. I screamed and struggled against her.

"What joy," Bellatrix spat. "I get to kill little Elizabeth Potter. It's an honor." She looked at Harry. "Either give us the prophecy I will slit her throat."

I stared at Harry, shaking my head wildly.

"Please don't give it to them," I gasped. "Please don't..."

But Harry looked at me, his eyes filled with worry.

"Harry don't," I croaked, cut off by my own scream as Bellatrix began to cut me again. "H-Harry d-don't—"

Harry shook his head and reached his hand out, about to hand the prophecy to Malfoy.

Suddenly two doors burst open high above. Sirius, Remus Lupin, Mad Eye Moody, Tonks, and Kingsley sprinted into the room.

Sirius appeared beside me, shooting a spell that made Bellatrix let go of me. Harry sprinted to me and cradled me in his arms, beginning to lift me up.

"Beth!" He screamed. "Beth!"

I spit out more blood. "H-Harry— r-run—"

Sirius shot a curse at Bellatrix and turned to us.

"Harry! Take Batavia, Beth, and Neville and the prophecy and run!" He demanded.

Harry was about to run when Malfoy came closer.

"The prophecy! Give it to me Potter!" he snarled, grabbing my body out of Harry's arms and tossing it aside. I screamed again, my limp body falling onto the ground.

"GIVE IT TO ME!" Malfoy roared.

I don't know how I managed to stand up, but I did, and when the ring of energy burst out, I directed it right to Malfoy.

He yelled and crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

I then staggered backward and gasped, seeing my bandages were soaked through with blood.

"Stop using your powers!" Batavia cried as she and Harry hoisted me up. "Stop it!"

"I can't— I can't— that wasn't my powers I can't control that—" I croaked as smaller rings burst out.

"Dubbledore!" I heard Neville yell. I looked around wildly, seeing Dumbledore looking down at the scene furiously.

"Where's Sirius?" I asked softly, squeezing my eyes shut tightly as Batavia strained to drag me away.

"He's dueling Bellatrix," Harry said, pointing at the two dueling figures nearby.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" I heard Sirius taunt her.

"No!" I cried, my eyes wide. "Let me down, let me down, Harry please—"

A jet of red light passed through my field of vision— slamming into Sirius' chest.

"NO!" Harry cried.

He looked at Harry and I, then fell back through the curtain in the archway. Bellatrix screamed triumphantly.

"SIRIUS!" Harry and I yelled.

I pushed myself out of Batavia's arms, and wildly began to make my way towards Bellatrix.

No, this was the last straw. I had seen far too many people die— and I was not okay with it.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me forcefully back.

"LET GO OF ME!" I screamed, tears flooding out of my eyes.

"Batavia— hold Harry!"

Batavia seemed to break out of her trance and managed to hold Harry back.

"LET US GO!" Harry bellowed, letting out a loud yell that made me burst into more tears.

"There's nothing you can do..." my godfather's voice said as he yanked me back. "Nothing... Beth... he's gone...."

"GET OFF ME!" I screamed, sobbing loudly.

"Elizabeth hold still—"

"NO— GET OFF—"

"Elizabeth Lily Potter—"

"SHUT UP!" I cried, kicking my godfather's legs. "SHUT UP— LET ME GO—"

"No— Elizabeth —"

"I DON'T WANT YOU TOUCHING ME—"

"Elizabeth—"

"GET OFF ME— GET OFF— I SWEAR—"

"Beth please stop it—"

"NO— YOU DON'T GET TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO AFTER WHAT YOU DID—"

"Elizabeth... I-I'm sorry—"

"YOU'RE NOT SORRY!" I hissed, wheeling around to face my grief stricken godfather. "That's what you told me, wasn't it? That I wasn't truly sorry about making a mistake, that I wasn't sorry—"

"I admit I made a mistake treating you that way—"

"I needed your support!" I screamed, still struggling against him. "And only Sirius gave it to me! ONLY HIM! NOT YOU—"

"Elizabeth now is not the time or place—"

"YOU DON'T DO THAT TO SOMEONE! LEAVE THEM ALONE WHEN THEY NEED YOU—"

"Elizabeth I'm trying to apologize—"

"NO!"

I whirled around and saw Harry backhanded Batavia, causing her to scream and release him so he could chase Bellatrix, who had just left Kingsley unconscious and was running up the steps.

"Harry— no!" My godfather yelled.

"SHE KILLED SIRIUS— SHE KILLED HIM!" Harry bellowed as he ran. "I'LL KILL HER!"

Harry sprinted past the other fighting Order members and right up the stone steps behind Bellatrix.

I seized the opportunity to push my godfather's hands away and knee him in the shins, the burst of energy helping me succeed in making him let go.

"Elizabeth!" He cried, holding his burned arm as I summoned my wand into my hand, feeling my form glitch.

I ignored his yelling and sprinted faster than I ever had before to the stone benches that lay beneath the steps.

Halfway up I transformed into a panther and skillfully bounded up the steps, ignoring the burning sensation I had on my skin.

Bellatrix killed Sirius.

I had killed Macnair and Mr Hoganson.

I could add a third person to my body count, couldn't I?

Enraged, I burst into the brain room and hissed as my paws felt the acid of the brain tanks seeping around the floor.

I turned into a bird and soared over the acid and the hissing brains, their tentacles slapping the ground. I ignored Bixby and Mr Hoganson's dead bodies and Luna's unconscious one and kept flying until I heard movement at the end of the room.

I entered the circular room with the lanterns and saw Bellatrix disappear through the exit, Harry about ten meters away.

Right as she slammed the door shut, the door I'd gone through closed behind me, and the room began to spin.

I turned back into a human and landed shakily on the floor beside Harry, feeling electricity jumping between my fingers.

"Beth?" He spluttered, looking wildly around. "What—?"

"I'm not letting you live with the guilt of murder," I spat, looking at my bleeding hands and quickly summoning a bandage to change them out. "If your plan is to kill her, that's what we're doing."

I could see Harry, in part, looked thoroughly afraid, which was logical considering his 17 year old sister was offering to commit murder in his place.

The other sadistic part he and I shared in the moment was a sort of gleeful expression, like this was indeed what we wanted and NEEDED to happen.

"Good," he said, just as the wall stopped spinning.

I whipped around and saw the exit door, still marked with a red X, right behind us.

I sprinted toward it, and kicked it open, feeling Harry running right at my heels.

We reached the Atrium, where we'd gotten out of the lift from the telephone box.

There was no sound.

She was hiding.

I waved to Harry and we crouched behind a statue.

I turned invisible, although my form flickered slightly, and slowly wove around, attempting to be as quiet as possible.

Then she spoke.

"Come out, come out, little Harry," she called in her mock baby voice.

She didn't know I was here.

"What did you come after me for, then?" She cooed, her voice echoing off the polished wooden floors. "I thought you were here to avenge my dear cousin?"

I waved for Harry to stay down but he didn't listen.

He stood up halfway. "I AM!"

It was like several Harry's spoke, and a chorus of 'I am!'s followed him.

"Aaaaah... did you love him, little baby Potter?" Bellatrix's voice said. I saw her appear behind the statues near the fountain.

Harry reacted on impulse.

"CRUCIO!"

Bellatrix screamed and staggered, but she, unlike Neville, didn't writhe in pain. In fact, she composed herself seconds after, looking absolutely infuriated.

"Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you boy?" She yelled. I took this opportunity to crawl around, succeeding in ending up behind her. "You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain— to enjoy it— righteous anger won't hurt me for long— I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson—"

Harry stood up to cast a spell, but Bellatrix disarmed him in one swift move, and his wand clattered away. She smirked maliciously.

"Cruc—" she began.

"CRUCIO!"

She screamed as the spell hit her from behind. She collapsed on the floor and yelled in agony for a short moment, then gasping, stood up, her eyes fixated on me.

Our wands were pointed at each other.

"Look at that," she cooed, circling me. "Itty bitty girl Potter can cast a proper Unforgivable Curse... then again you have killed two Death Eaters, I shouldn't be surprised..."

I growled.

"STUPEFY—"

"PROTEGO—"

My own Stunning Spell shot back at me and I dove to the side.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

When my wand flew out of my hand I scrambled to get it, but Bellatrix just made it skid across the ground, far out of my reach.

I could see Harry wildly looking around for his wand.

"What will little Potter do?" Bellatrix said, her wand pointed at me. "No wand..."

I forced myself to stand up, spitting out some blood before feeling another energy ring leave me.

I directed it right to Bellatrix, crying out in pain from the burning it caused in my hands.

Bellatrix screamed as it collided with her arm. She staggered, holding it, and I saw it singed through her shirt, making her look at me venomously.

"You're wearing yourself out, idiot girl," she snarled. "The Dark Lord told us this— you think you can rely on that..."

I growled and summoned a knife, wildly throwing it in her direction. She flicked her wand and sent it flying back my way, and I dodged, turning into a falcon and screeching as I flew to her, dodging another curse before clawing at her face, causing her to roar and trip back.

"IDIOT GIRL!" She bellowed as I landed as a human, limping to the side, my hands once again soaked with blood. "ALL YOU ARE DOING IS HURTING YOURSELF!"

I ignored her and directed another burst at her, making her scream furiously as she shot a curse in my direction.

This I didn't dodge fast enough.

I screamed as I fell onto the floor, writhing in pain. Harry seemed to still be searching like crazy for his wand. Bellatrix looked gleeful....

Another burst. I thrust my arm out and strained to direct the sound and light waves right at her face.

"GAH—" Bellatrix cried, losing control of her Cruciatus Curse on me. She quite nearly toppled back into the fountain.

She removed her hand from her face and I saw her cheek was bloody, and there were rings of smoke emitting from it.

I'd burned her almost as bad as my hands were burned.

"The Dark Lord— doesn't desire you," she snarled, raising her wand with a shaky hand as I stood up, tearing the bandages off. "You are disposable, and I will not hesitate to kill you... he is finished with you...."

I didn't care that I could see my bones.

Bellatrix looked almost afraid of me. "Potter," she called in a smaller baby voice to Harry, who was looking furiously around the floor. "Give me the prophecy or I'll kill her."

Harry looked at me and shook his head.

"No," I said, looking boldly at her. "There isn't—"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The spell hit me square in the chest, but did nothing more than make me stagger back. 

She couldn't kill me like that.

Bellatrix breathed heavily, looking at me. She took out her knife.

"I am going to give you one chance, Harry Potter," Bellatrix said. "Give me the prophecy— roll it out to me now— and I may spare your life and your sister's life."

I had been trying to tell her prophecy was gone.

"You can kill me," I said, my voice shaky, looking right at the knife in her hand. "You— you're going to have to... because it's gone."

She looked at me, confused.

"What?" She roared.

"He knows it's gone!" Harry said. "Your dear old mate Voldemort knows it's gone! He's not going to be happy—"

He suddenly yelled in pain, and held his forehead— specifically his scar.

Bellatrix looked between us, looking very perplexed and angry.

"You're lying," she said, looking fearfully at me.

"The prophecy smashed earlier," Harry croaked, staggering closer as Bellatrix lowered her wand. "It smashed after Malfoy tried to take it from me! What do you think Voldemort will say about that?"

He then roared again, and collapsed, holding his scar, his face turned down to the ground.

"LIAR!" Bellatrix shrieked. "YOU'VE GOT IT— ONE OF YOU— GIVE IT TO ME! ACCIO PROPHECY!"

Of course nothing shot out toward her. We weren't lying.

Harry laughed mirthlessly and Bellatrix, out of rage, threw the knife at him. Despite the immense pain in my hand, I summoned the knife and threw it back at her, succeeding in grazing her shoulder.

"YOU'RE LYING!" She roared, looking at both of us as Harry cried in pain again. "MASTER— I TRIED, I TRIED— DO NOT PUNISH ME—"

"Don't waste your breath!" Harry yelled, his voice laced with pain. "He can't hear you from here!"

"Can't I, Potter?"

I whipped around.

Tall, thin, black hooded, still with a terrible white and gaunt snakelike face, staring at me with his scarlet, slit pupiled eyes... Lord Voldemort had appeared in the middle of the hall.

Despite that his gaze was on me, his wand was pointing at Harry, whose face was contorted in pain.

It was like I was frozen— paralyzed in fear, like Batavia had been.

"So you smashed my prophecy?" Voldemort asked softly, looking now at Harry as I felt blood drip from my hands onto the floor.

I felt so dizzy, but I couldn't even bring myself to collapse on the floor.

"No, Bella, no," he said, looking to an agonized Bellatrix. "They are not lying. I see the truth looking at me from within the boy's worthless mind...."

He took a step closer.

"Months of preparation and months of effort," Voldemort hissed. "And my Death Eaters have let Elizabeth Potter thwart me again...."

He looked at me.

"You have killed another of my Death Eaters," he hissed dangerously. Then he chuckled slightly, as if he was looking through my mind. My vision blurred slightly. "But you have suffered loss, yes. You are now as angry— if not angrier— than when I had Wormtail kill that worthless Hufflepuff boy in the graveyard...."

My jaw tightened.

Cedric and Bixby's eyes had never been the same color— at least not the same shade of brown-green anyway.

But after tonight I knew their eyes would always look the same to me.

Empty. Cold. Dead.

Voldemort and I both noticed the electricity crackling off the tips of my fingers. He chuckled lightly.

"You have never hated anyone quite this much, have you, Elizabeth?" Voldemort asked icily.

He turned abruptly to Bellatrix.

"Anything to say, Bella?"

Bellatrix's eyes widened at being acknowledged.

"Master— I am sorry— I knew not, I was fighting the Animagus Black!" She sobbed, flinging herself past me and falling at Voldemort's feet as he paced closer, standing directly between Harry and I, his wand lowered. "Master you should know—"

"Be quiet, Bella," he said dangerously. Even if he'd wanted to hear what she had to say, he didn't seem to care. "I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your sniveling apologies?"

"But Master— he is here— he is below—"

Voldemort growled and ignored her.

He turned to Harry and raised his wands, seeing me unable to move.

"I have nothing more to say to you, Potter," he said to Harry. "You have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

My feet were suddenly able to move.

Harry was not looking, he was groaning in pain and clutching his forehead, and he wouldn't have been able to move.

I did what I knew I should.

I threw myself in front of Voldemort's wand. And this time I didn't simply stagger.

I collapsed, the world pitch black around me.


	64. Chapter 64

I felt a huge jolt that woke me up.

My eyes snapped open.

I gagged and turned to the side, spitting out the blood that accumulated in my mouth.

"Beth?" Harry said frantically, running to me. "Are you okay?"

"Where— are we—?" I asked, my vision blurred.

"Dumbledore's office," he said grimly, helping me up.

My shaky legs managed to carry me to a chair.

"What happened?" I asked, looking around.

Harry looked down.

"After you— took the curse for me," he mumbled. "Well... Dumbledore came and he and Voldemort dueled and Fudge saw him— Voldemort.... so now the Ministry believes you."

My head spun.

"And why am I not in the hospital?" I asked, looking down at my hands, which had hardened blood on them.

"Dumbledore really needed to talk to us," he mumbled. "Dunno why...."

I felt a sickening feeling in my stomach.

"Bixby's dead," I mumbled. "Sirius is dead. I've officially lost my powers. I-I—"

My lip trembled and I stopped, seeing Harry looked very distressed.

"Sirius is dead," Harry repeated. "Sirius... and Bixby..."

He growled and grabbed the nearest thing— a quill, and furiously slammed it against the wall.

"Harry," I said softly, feeling the throbbing sensation in my head increasing. "It's—"

"It's all my fault," he said hoarsely. "I-I insisted. You said it was a bad idea..."

"Harry—"

The fire roared and green flames burst out. Dumbledore stepped in, and the headmaster portraits on the wall cheered.

"It was getting lonely here without you, Dumbledore!" Phineas Nigellus called.

Harry looked bitterly at Dumbledore.

"Elizabeth," Dumbledore said calmly. "How are you feeling?"

"Numb," I said, letting out a soft, shaky breath. "I haven't broken down yet. So um... let's make this as quick as possible."

Harry looked absolutely furious.

Dumbledore ignored him.

"I expect you and Miss Hoganson will need the most time to recover," he said. "You have already taken your NEWTs, which is good. Both of you will be excused from regular end of term examinations, I'm sure your Professors know that you both are intelligent and will be able to grade you appropriately without need for a final."

I nodded slowly.

"So they're really gone then," I said, looking up. "My powers."

"Yes."

I looked at my hands.

The blood meant something. It showed me that I had been blessed with something rare. And that I'd willingly given it up to save my brother's life.

I expect that should have made me feel better but it didn't.

"You shouldn't see it as too much of a loss," Dumbledore said gently. "I recall you didn't use them much after what Alastor told you in the summer. Perhaps you will be more vulnerable, Elizabeth, but you were blessed while you had them. Now you don't have to worry about that pain in your hands again, alright?"

I nodded. He was right— I suppose if I'd lost them earlier I would have been devastated.

But the glitches and power bursts had hurt me too much. I didn't need the powers. I did in fact prefer not to have them.

Harry however, looked furious, and about to retort.

"Elizabeth," Dumbledore said, "Professor Snape is waiting for you outside to take you to the Hospital Wing. I believe Harry and I need to have a little chat."

I nodded and stood up slowly, limping to the door.

Snape was indeed there, and when he saw me, he flinched slightly.

"Are you certain you can walk?" He inquired.

"Yeah," I mumbled.

It was starting to hit me.

Bixby was dead. Batavia and Kesenia no longer had a brother. Katie no longer had a boyfriend.

Sirius was dead. Harry no longer had a godfather. My godfather no longer had his best friend. I no longer had the man I'd considered a father figure.

I lost my powers. Sure I was more normal and would feel no pain.

But now I could die.

"Are you alright, Miss Potter?" Snape asked, looking genuinely worried.

"They're dead," I said with a short, mirthless laugh. "They're dead..."

Snape stopped walking and looked at me. "Do you need a Calming Draught?"

I looked at him, my eyes full of tears.

"No," I said, my voice cracking. "I-I'm fine..."

"You are most certainly not fine," he said, furrowing his eyebrows. "Miss Potter— if you need to cry—"

I burst into tears, my breath hitching as I gasped for air.

"B-B-Bixby is dead," I croaked, my vision blurred from how many tears I had flowing down my cheeks. "S-Sirius...."

The next thing was unexpected.

Snape came forward and wrapped his arms around me, holding me close to his chest.

I swallowed hard and let out an ungodly loud sob, leaning my head on him.

"Mr Bixby Hoganson was a brilliant student," Snape said softly. "He was one of the best in his class."

I nodded, squeezing my eyes shut.

"Sirius Black," he said, sounding exasperated. "Reckless. But he... cared. He... did his part."

I laughed softly, wiping my eyes. "T-That must h-have been h-hard for you to s-say..."

Snape chuckled a bit. "Yes... if you repeat it to anyone I may have to tell the Ministry to cancel your NEWT Potion score..."

I pulled away and wiped my eyes again.

"There will be more tears," he said quietly. "More pain. Cry with Miss Hoganson. Cry with anyone who can properly comfort you. I-I am sorry."

My lips slightly turned up to a smile.

"Thank you, Professor," I said, smiling a bit.

"I do hope you'll visit next year even though you won't have my class," he said, starting to walk down the hall again.

"I will," I promised.

He smiled, and I did too.

It was a pity he didn't let others see this side of him.

________

I woke up to bright sunlight streaming in.

I turned to the side and saw George sitting on the chair.

"George?" I mumbled.

George sat up quickly, and ambushed me in a kiss.

"They've just told me what happened," he mumbled between kissing my lips and my neck. "I-I only arrived this morning... they said.... Bixby and Sirius..."

I nodded slowly, feeling my lip tremble.

"Batavia and I are both on a lot of antidepressants," I said quietly. "I haven't been able to leave because of my concussion... she's been home awhile now. Couldn't bear to stay."

George winced. "And you lost—?"

"Yes."

"I-I mean it isn't the worst thing, right?" He mumbled. "No more pain."

"Yeah," I said. "No more. It's fine— truly. I suppose everyone expects me to be really sad but I saw this coming. And I'd been losing them for awhile either way. This... isn't a surprise."

"Dumbledore said you saw... You Know Who."

"He was there yes," I said, shrugging. "I expected it, although his absence in the fight almost had me thinking he was a no show."

"Lupin said you keep denying him access to see you."

"Yeah," I muttered, rubbing my forehead. "I don't want to see or talk to him. At all."

"Beth he's your godfather."

"And I'm his goddaughter."

"We did something stupid and he reprimanded us."

"He ignored me when I needed him, George."

"Doesn't give you the right to ignore him."

I rolled my eyes and bit my lip.

"Is he here?"

"Yeah, right outside actually. Can he come in?"

I looked over to the window and let out a deep sigh.

"Fine," I said slowly. "But he gets ten minutes. Nothing more, nothing less."

George stood up and went to the door and poked his head out. He seemed to have a conversation with someone, then slipped out of the crack.

My godfather slipped in.

"Elizabeth," he said, looking at me. He looked older. Wiser in a way, but mostly more tired.

"Uncle Remus," I replied a bit stiffly.

He sat next to me.

"Well it's over, isn't it?" He said. "You never have to burn yourself again— it won't hurt."

"I know."

"Most of your power experiment carried pain, Elizabeth— remember? Before you discovered you were immortal in your third year?"

"I know. I remember."

"It's quite beneficial."

"I know."

My godfather pursed his lips. "What am I supposed to say? I don't know that, Elizabeth. I tried to apologize—"

"What you could have done is been there when I needed you," I said, my voice trembling slightly. "You— you were allowed the initial anger. But to ignore every single letter I managed to send out after I got the test? You abandoned me."

"Elizabeth, it was quite a shock, forgive me for not processing it quickly enough."

"You'd been through it before when my mother told my father she was pregnant. Why was it any different?"

"There were a great deal many differences. Lily and I were close, Elizabeth, but you're my DAUGHTER. I felt irresponsible— I should have talked more about it to you."

"We knew what we were doing, Uncle Remus, we just FORGOT—"

"Just don't forget then? And preferably don't do it again for a long time?" He offered, the crinkles of his eyes prevalent. He was slightly smiling.

"I'm still mad at you," I said, crossing my arms for effect.

"You'd be a madwoman not to be."

I turned away from him and looked to the window.

"So Harry can't get adopted by Sirius now, can he?" I murmured.

"No," my godfather said heavily. "The original plan was to go to the Ministry, get him cleared, so he could adopt Harry and then you'd move in with them if you wished."

"Oh now I have a choice of where I'm placed?"

"You are of age now."

I hadn't actually considered it.

I was 17. I could do whatever the hell I wanted.

"Here is the other part of that," he said slowly. "Dumbledore would like if you left the Dursleys."

"What?" I said, looking back at him. "What?"

"The protection over you both has strengthened with you being together. But it weakens when one comes of age. Your coming of age— and of course lack of powers— weakens the protection over Harry. The safest option is that you leave the Dursleys so the protection can strengthen."

"Will I even be able to visit him?" I whispered, my chest heavy.

I was losing everyone.

"Yes of course, you may whenever you wish," he said. "But I believe... you should figure out prior to the end of term where you'll want to live. Of course your room at my house is always open, although..."

He stopped.

"Although what?" I inquired. "You don't want me to bring George, do you?"

"It's not that," he said shyly. "Although um— that's a restriction of course, no being together alone with a closed door—"

"Uncle Remus what is it?"

He blushed.

"Erm well... if you were to come... you'd be seeing a certain... person around. More often..."

"Tonks?"

He looked up in shock. "Um..."

"I saw how you guys looked at each other all the time. You fancy each other."

"I suppose yes," he said, looking down, his hands shaking. "We've er— been working a lot more together. I mean now it's— a little complicated because she admitted she has feelings but I'm encouraging her not to as much as it hurts me—"

"What?" I cried. "Don't steer her away, she's awesome!"

"I'm a werewolf, Elizabeth," he said, looking me in the eyes.

"I was raised by a werewolf, Remus," I said, raising my eyebrow. "You— it's FINE. She likes you for who you are as a person, she doesn't care about your furry little problem—"

"She wants to have kids, Elizabeth."

I raised my eyebrow even more.

"I don't see how it's a problem," I said sharply. "Acquired traits— which lycanthropy is— can't be passed down to offspring— you should know this!"

He looked blankly at me.

"It can't?" He whispered.

"And you're the professor? Bloody hell," I sighed, shaking my head. "No— you didn't become a werewolf because you inherited it from your ancestors, you became one because Greyback bit you. That trait won't be passed onto your potential baby— or babies!"

He seemed to have had an epiphany.

"Oh come on Uncle Remus," I sighed. "Give her a chance— don't push her away. If-If it's okay with you, I'd like to live with you, just until I can find myself a place."

He smiled a bit— a genuine smile.

"Alright," he said, checking his watch. "My er— ten minutes are up."

I frowned. "You can stay. In fact I'd rather you stayed."

He stood up and motioned for me to scoot over. I did and he sat on the bed beside me, wrapping his arms around me and stroking my head.

I leaned into his chest and breathed deeply.

"How do you get over losing your best friend?" I whispered, closing my eyes.

My godfather breathed deeply.

"It's difficult. You have to let yourself cry. Let yourself be sad. Don't hold back. Remember them always. Remember that you were blessed to have many fun times with them. Remember... in our case... they died for good. They are heroes. You will always miss them. You never truly get over it. But you can overcome the sadness and see to it that this war is won."

A slow tear ran down my cheek.

My godfather hugged me tighter and began to hum a lullaby.

"You'd be a great dad," I whispered as my eyes watered. "Be with her, if she really makes you happy."

I felt his heart leap in his chest.

"I will," he whispered back. "Perhaps...."

It felt nice to just be held for awhile.

_________

There was a knock on the door. Harry came in, carrying a tray of food, closely followed by Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Neville.

"Hi guys," I said, looking up from my chess match with George.

"How does it feel to finally be moved into the regular Hospital Wing and out of the isolation rooms?"

"It feels nice," I said, nodding to the figure of Umbridge a few beds away. "I have a friend now."

"They finally found her?" Ron laughed.

"Yep," I said.

I took the tray and began to help myself to the food.

"So since we can all finally visit you, we brought this copy of the Prophet," Hermione said. "They're very complimentary about you now, Beth."

"Oh really?" I said, laughing. Hermione nodded.

She cleared her throat. "'A lone voice of truth... perceived as unbalanced, yet never wavered her story... forced to bear ridicule and slander.' Hmm I notice they don't mention the fact that it was them doing all the ridiculing and slandering in the Prophet."

"Daddy sold Beth's interview to them," Luna said happily. "He got a very good price for it too, so we're going to go on an expedition to Sweden this summer to see if we can catch a Crumple Horned Snorkack."

"Have fun there," I said with a laugh.

I almost waited for Bixby to remark something.

The others noticed my pause.

"Batavia is doing alright," Ginny said. "She sent an owl. Her mum is a little ill but she'll recover."

I winced. "On a happier note... what's happening in school?"

"Well Flitwick got rid of Fred and George's swamp," Ginny said, smacking George's arm. "He did it in about three seconds, but he left a tiny patch under the window and he's roped it off—"

"Why?" I asked.

"Oh he just says it was a really good bit of magic," Ginny said with a shrug, nodding to her brother.

"Must've left it as a monument to Freddie and I," George said happily.

I smiled, nodding. "So has all the trouble stopped now Dumbledore is back?"

"Yes," Neville said. "Everything's settled right back to normal."

"I s'pose Filch is happy, is he?" I asked.

"Not at all," Ginny said, "he's really miserable actually. Keeps saying Umbridge is the best thing that ever happened to Hogwarts..."

We all looked over to my half awake roommate.

"Madam Pomfrey says she's just in shock," I whispered.

"Sulking, more like," Ginny added.

"Yeah she shows signs of life if you do this," George said, making a clicking noise with his tongue. Umbridge sat up suddenly, looking around fearfully.

"Anything wrong, Professor?" Madam Pomfrey asked from her desk.

"No no," Umbridge mumbled. "No I must have been dreaming."

Hermione and Ginny muffled their laughter in their sweaters.

"Speaking of centaurs," Hermione said, "who's Divination teacher now? Is Firenze staying?"

"He's got to, doesn't he?" I asked. "The other centaurs won't take him back."

"It looks like he and Trelawney are both going to teach," Ginny said.

"Bet Dumbledore wishes he could've got rid of Trelawney for good," Ron said. "Mind you, the whole subject's useless if you ask me, Firenze isn't much better.."

"How can you say that?" Hermione snapped. "After we've just found out that there are real prophecies?"

Ron closed his mouth.

"I think," I announced as I checkmated George. "I fancy a stroll around the school."

"Can I come with you?" Harry asked slowly.

"Yeah of course," I said, inching out of bed. "We'll be back soon."

The others nodded. George helped me into my shoes. I held onto Harry's arm and he led me out.

"Very nice feeling, to walk again," I sighed, closing my eyes as Harry led me around.

"How are you?"

"As good as can be expected," I sighed. "I miss them."

"Bixby," Harry sighed. "That was unfair. He had just turned seventeen."

"I know," I mumbled, shaking my head. "It— it's horrible."

"So you're not going to Azkaban for killing Mr Hoganson, are you?"

"No," I said, biting my lip. "But um... I will be living with Uncle Remus. To help protect you."

"He told me," Harry muttered. "Alone at the Dursleys again— what joy."

"I'll visit often."

"It's not the same..."

"I know, and I'm sorry—"

"You're dead Potter!"

I turned to the staircase and saw Malfoy and his goons standing at the foot of the stairs. They all looked furious.

"Funny, you'd think I'd have stopped walking around," Harry said, looking up at Malfoy.

"You're going to pay," Malfoy snarled, coming closer. "I'm going to make you pay for what you've done to my father."

"I'm terrified now, Malfoy," Harry said sarcastically. "I s'pose Lord Voldemort's just a warm up act compared to you three— what's the matter? He's a mate of your dad, isn't he? Not scared of him are you?"

I resisted the urge to snort. My brother was the king of sass...

"You think you're such a big man, Potter," Malfoy sneered, advancing towards us. "You wait, I'll have you. You can't land my father in prison."

"I thought I just had," Harry spat.

"The Dementors have left Azkaban," Malfoy said dangerously. "Father and the others will be out in no time..."

"Yeah I expect they will," Harry said. "Still, at least now everyone knows what scumbags they are—"

Malfoy and Harry's hands both flew for their wands, Harry extracting his faster.

"Potter!" Snape's voice said from down the hall. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to decide what curse to use on Malfoy, sir," Harry said.

"Put that wand away at once," Snape snarled. "Ten points from Gryff—"

Then Snape looked at the hourglasses maliciously. "Ah, I see there are no longer any points left in the Gryffindor hourglass to take away. In that case, Potter, we will simply have to—"

"Add some more?" McGonagall's voice said, coming in from around the hallway.

"Professor McGonagall!" Snape said in mild surprise. "Out of St Mungo's I see."

"Yes Professor Snape," McGonagall said, smiling warmly at me. "I'm quite good as new. You two— Crabbe and Goyle—" she handed them a carpetbag. "Take these up to my office for me."

They looked stunned, but lumbered up the staircase anyway.

"Right then," McGonagall said. "Well I think the Potters and their friends ought to have fifty points apiece for alerting the world to the return of You Know Who! What do you say, Professor Snape?"

"What?" Snape said. "Oh— well... I suppose.."

"So that's fifty each for both Potter, the two Weasleys, Longbottom, and Miss Granger," McGonagall said. "Fifty for Miss Hoganson and sixty for Mr Hoganson, God bless his soul. Fifty for Miss Lovegood I suppose. Now you wanted to take ten from Mr Potter, I think, Professor Snape... so there we are..."

The Gryffindor hourglass was now filled quite a bit, making me grin despite the ache in my chest.

She'd given Bixby points.

"Well then, Potters, and Malfoy, I think you ought to be outside on a glorious day like this," McGonagall said brightly.

"Thanks Professor," I said as she led Snape away.

"I'd like to speak with you, Potter," Malfoy said abruptly, looking dead at me.

"What do you need from my sister, Malfoy?" Harry snapped.

"Harry," I said, holding my arm up. "It's fine. What, Malfoy?"

"I'd like to speak privately with you, if you don't mind."

I walked slowly toward him and waved for Harry to wait on the other end of the hall.

Malfoy led me a bit aways to a bench where I could sit. I crossed my arms and looked at him.

"How are you?" He blurted out.

I was a bit taken aback.

"As well as can be expected.... Malfoy," I said slowly and suspiciously.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "About... Bixby. No one was meant to die."

I looked up at him. He genuinely meant it.

"Well... thank you, at any rate..."

"I'm sorry about your powers," he said quietly, looking away. "But um... you should be a bit happier. I-I don't think I've ever seen someone in so much pain... that day Umbridge caught you and Weasley..."

"Well that's.... sweet of you," I said awkwardly.

"You're more tolerable than your brother," he said gruffly. "Much less annoying."

"Thanks...?"

"And if you tell anyone I apologized I'll kill you."

I laughed slightly.

"Alright.... Malfoy."

"Draco," he said, looking fixedly at me. "And er— let me know if Warrington gives you any problems. He's Head Boy with you next year."

"I see," I said, still feeling suspicious. "Thank you, Draco... I won't tell."

He smiled a bit, which I took as a very rare sight. Then he walked away.

It seemed the Slytherin Prince had a soft spot for me. Nice to know.

"What did Malfoy want?" Harry asked as he sprinted toward me from across the hall.

"To say Warrington is Head Boy," I said nonchalantly. "A heads up, I suppose."

"So you're Head Girl?"

"It would seem so."

Harry grinned mischievously. "This is going to be great."

"Don't get any ideas."

"Too late."

I suppose next year would have some degree of fun.

I would never stop missing Bixby.

But I would never forget him either.

"Come on," I said, standing up and putting my arm around Harry.

"Where are we going?"

"To ask McGonagall if my first act as Head Girl can be to put up a plaque to commemorate the greatest friend I ever had, and the truest Gryffindor Hogwarts has ever seen."


	65. Chapter 65

I tore open the envelope from Hogwarts, not remembering to thank the owl before it left.

"Tell us what it says!" Tonks cried happily. "My GOD, Beth, that envelope is HUGE...."

"Well it has my NEWT results and my course materials," I said as I pulled all the wads of parchment out.

I went for the scores first.

"Aha!" I cried, thrusting the parchment into my godfather's hands. "O's! For both Potions and Transfiguration!"

"Yes!" He cried, pumping his fist in the air.

"Go on, what do the others say?" Tonks asked excitedly.

I took out another parchment, which had a large gold pin attached to it.

"Head Girl," I said, turning red. Did I have to wear that enormous pin every day?

"That's my girl," my godfather said happily.

I read the parchment as quickly as I could.

"Okay," I said, "I just need to get there earlier to give instructions to the Prefects... I get night patrol for an hour every day with Warrington, what joy... I get my own Common Room— well I have to share it with Warrington, that's bloody brilliant... and I get to oversee all Prefect duties. That doesn't sound so hard."

"It isn't," my godfather said. "You even get to attend some staff meetings— it'll be fun."

I smirked and pulled out another parchment with a pin.

"Quidditch Captain?" Tonks cried. "Beth that's amazing!"

"Holy crap," I said, looking at it with wide eyes. "Angelina picked me?"

"Of course she picked you!" Tonks whooped. "Oh my God you have to put those pins on so we can take a picture!"

"Later," I said, reading the letter quickly. "Okay this sounds cool— I get McGonagall as my advisor so it should be fine. Wow...."

"Head Girl and Quidditch Captain... that's very impressive," my godfather said. "We should celebrate."

"Later," I repeated, waving my hand in the air as I looked over the materials I'd need. "Wow I hardly need anything now that I don't have Potions or Transfiguration. Just Charms... Arithmancy... Herbology... Defense Against the Dark Arts... Care of Magical Creatures... this is the easiest schedule ever!"

"Remember, it doesn't mean you can slack off," my godfather said, checking his watch. "Now isn't it high time you Flooed to the Leaky Cauldron? They'll be waiting for you."

"Yeah," I said, shoving everything back into the envelope except for my book list. "I should be fine with the money I have— I'll see you guys later."

"See you," Tonks chirped as I threw the green powder into the fireplace and ran in.

The flames wrapped around me and when I opened my eyes, I was in Diagon Alley, and the entire Weasley clan and Hermione and Harry were staring at me.

"Hey," Harry said happily.

"Head Girl?" Mrs Weasley asked anxiously.

"And Quidditch Captain," I said, blushing and everyone screamed and ambushed me with a hug.

George managed to pull me out and spin me around before planting a kiss on my lips.

"I'm so bloody proud of you," he sighed, placing his hands on my hips.

"Couldn't have done it without you," I said happily.

"If Warrington gives you any trouble, I'll go over and pulverize him myself."

"I'll let you know."

I giggled. "How are you?"

"Good—"

"Not too good," Ginny said, coming closer. "He's annoyed with Phlegm, as are the rest of us."

"Don't call her that, Ginny," Mrs Weasley scolded.

"Who are we talking about?" I asked.

"Your Beauxbatons friend," Ginny said. "Fleur. From the Triwizard."

"What's she got to do with anything?" I asked, looking around.

"Well you know how she wanted to improve her English while working at Gringotts?" Ron said as he, Harry, and Hermione came over. "Well she and Bill are getting married."

"You're kidding!" I said. "Oh my God— she really does get what she wants."

A memory resurfaced.  
  


I scurried over to the entrance of the Great Hall and caught up to Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor.

"Zis is it," Fleur said.

"After this, ve vill have normal lives again," Viktor continued.

Cedric looked at all of us and grinned. "It was a pleasure getting to know you all and getting to compete with you."

"Likevise," Viktor said. "I hope ve vill all be friends."

"You all 'ave invitations to my wedding in ze future!" Fleur said happily. "I want all of you zere and you— Beth— you 'ave to be one of my bridesmaids! Zen Viktor and Cedric, you can sit near ze front!"

"I'm honored," Cedric said, grinning.

"Have anyone in mind to fill the groom position?" I asked with a smirk as we walked to the now unrecognizable Quidditch field. It had become a maze— a twenty foot high hedge running all around the edge of it.

"Oh, not really," Fleur said, looking at me. "Although you did say you would introduce me to ze other Weasley boys when I told you I liked red 'eaded boys..."

"I haven't forgotten," I said, remembering the day she'd mentioned it.  
  


"So 'as your situation with zat Weasley boy been resolved?" Fleur asked, carefully buttering herself some toast.

"He has yet to discuss us being friends again," I said, which made Fleur let out a short, mirthless laugh. "But it's getting there."

"Zat family makes very 'andsome boys," Fleur said bluntly. "I 'ave always liked zose red 'eaded boys."

"You're in luck," I said. "They have more brothers— older ones."

"Hmm," Fleur said, smiling. "You will 'ave to introduce me."  
  


"Well?" Fleur giggled. "You better keep your promise."

"I will, I will," I said, rolling my eyes.  
  


It felt nice to remember Cedric again.

"Well Ginny," I said, leaning on her shoulder, "I do suppose we'll have to be trying on bridesmaid dresses soon."

"Let's get going, shall we?" Mr Weasley asked, beaming down at us and laughing slighly at the mention of bridesmaid dresses. "I think we'd better do Madam Malkin's first. Hermione wants new dress robes and Ron's showing too much ankle in his school robes, and you must need new ones too Harry, you've grown so much...."

"Molly it doesn't make sense for all of us to go to Madam Malkins," Mr Weasley said. "Why don't those three go with Hagrid and we can go to Flourish and Blotts and get everyone's school books?"

"I don't know," Mrs Weasley said, pursing her lips. "Hagrid do you think...?"

"Don't fret, they'll be fine with me, Molly," Hagrid said.

"Can I go too?" I asked.

"Sure," Hagrid said happily. "Come on Beth."

George hugged me and kissed my forehead.

"See you in a bit, okay?" He said, winking.

"Alright," I said, patting his cheek before skipping away with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Wow, Head Girl," Hermione said dreamily. "I want to be like you, Beth."

"I bet you'll get it," I said. "Also— you can have my Arithmancy book again, if you'd like."

"Yes please," she said.

"Harry— will you be wanting my Potions book?" I inquired.

"Nah, not taking Potions, I got an E. Snape won't let me into his class," Harry said.

"Ah," I said. "Ron— are you—?"

"Me neither."

"Well Hermione It's your lucky day," I said. "You get to have my Potions book too."

Hermione squealed in delight.

We walked into Madam Malkin's, while Hagrid waited outside.

Harry and Ron went up to get measured, and then I heard a familiar voice.

"...not a child, in case you haven't noticed, Mother. I am perfectly capable of doing my shopping alone."

"Now dear!" Madame Malkin said, tsking to Malfoy, "your mother is quite right. None of us is supposed to go wandering around on our own anymore, it's nothing to do with being a child..."

"Watch where you're sticking that pin, will you?" Malfoy snapped. He looked at himself in the mirror and noticed we were there.

"If you're wondering what that smell is, Mother, a Mudblood just walked in," Malfoy sneered.

Harry and Ron whipped their wands out immediately.

"Boys!" I hissed, seeing Malfoy drew his as well. "Put them away!"

"Yes!" Madam Malkin said sharply. "I don't want wands drawn in my shop."

"Yeah like you'd dare do magic out of school," Malfoy said menacingly to Harry and Ron.

"That's quite enough!" Madam Malkin said briskly.

"Put those away," Mrs Malfoy said to my brothers. "If you attack my son again, I shall ensure that it is the last thing you ever do."

"What?" Harry said. "Going to get a few Death Eater pals to do us in, are you?"

"Really!" Madam Malkin squeaked. "You shouldn't accuse— dangerous thing to say! Wands away, please!"

Harry was reluctant.

"Harry," I said in a warning tone. "Put it away."

Mrs Malfoy chuckled.

"I see that being Dumbledore's favorite has given you a false sense of security, Harry Potter," Mrs Malfoy said coldly. "But Dumbledore won't always be there to protect you."

"He isn't here now," Harry said in a mock voice. "So why not have a go?"

"I wouldn't duel a child," Mrs Malfoy said with a huff.

"Yeah?" Harry snapped. "Have go, maybe then you'll land in Azkaban with your husband. Maybe they can find you two a double cell..."

"HARRY!" I snarled, striding forward and snatching his wand out of his hand. "Stop it!"

"Listen to your sister, boy," Mrs Malfoy snapped. "It'd do you well to learn manners."

I looked at Malfoy and saw his jaw tightened.

Why did he look nervous?

I wished I could still read minds.

Madam Malkin pursed her lips. "I think this left sleeve could come up a little bit more, dear, let me just..."

"Ouch!" Malfoy yelled. "Watch where you're putting your pins, woman! Mother, I don't think I want these anymore."

"You're right Draco," Mrs Malfoy snarled, gazing at Hermione then at Harry. "Now I know the kind of scum that shops here.. we'll do better at Twilfitt and Tatting's."

Mrs Malfoy angrily strode out of the shop with Malfoy at her heels and I rolled my eyes.

"Really, Harry?" I snapped.

"Sorry," he said, although he didn't sound sorry at all.

After everyone got their robes, we went to Fred and George's shop— which was booming with business.

"Why are you worrying about You Know Who?" I read off the sign at front. "You should be worrying about U-No-Poo, the constipation sensation that's gripping the nation!"

"They'll be murdered in their beds!" Hermione whispered. Harry and I let out hearty laughs.

"No they won't!" Ron said. "This is brilliant!"

"I really do think they could make millions off of this," I said dreamily as we stepped into the shop.

The shop was full of Skiving Snackboxes left and right. There were other products too, like Spell Check, Self Inking, and Smart Answer quills— along with a hangman set with real gallows.

"Patented Daydream Charms," Hermione read off one label. "One simple incantation and you will enter a top quality, highly realistic, thirty minute daydream, easy to fit into the average school lesson and virtually undetectable. Side effects include vacant expression and minor drooling. Not for sale to under sixteens. This is really extraordinary magic!"

"For that Hermione, you can have one for free!" Fred said enthusiastically from behind.

"Come for a tour, Beth!" George said, urging me to the back of the store. "You wouldn't believe how many people who work at the Ministry can't do a Shield Charm. Now... look at these. We thought Shield Hats were a bit of a laugh, you know, challenge your mate to jinx you while wearing it and watch his face when the jinx bounces off. But the Ministry bought five hundred for all its support staff! And we're still getting massive orders!"

"Look at this, Instant Darkness Power imported from Peru," Fred said. "Handy if you want to make a quick escape."

A blonde witch popped her head into the room. "There's a customer out here looking for a joke cauldron, Mr Weasley and Mr Weasley."

It was a bit strange to hear the twins being called that, honestly.

"Right you are, Verity, I'm coming," Fred said. "Beth, help yourself to anything you want all right? No charge."

"What? I can't do that!" I said.

"You gave us our start up loan, we haven't forgotten," George said. "Take whatever you like, and just remember to tell people where you got it if they ask."

Fred then disappeared.

George looked at me and grinned. "Verity fancies Fred, I can tell. We need to have Angelina around more often so he can see that he IS taken."

"Have you seen her lately?" I asked.

"Not since before graduation," he said. "She went touring America with Katie and Batavia. They're doing better but needed to get their mind of everything."

I breathed deeply.

"I miss them every day now," I said, leaning back against the wall. "Cedric. Bixby. Sirius. With Cedric... it took a long time but eventually I'd think of him every now and then and just smile. But now I can't get any of them out of my head."

"I would expect so," George whispered, placing his hands on my shoulders. "Beth I'm so sorry... I practically abandoned you."

"You had to go," I said. "George it wouldn't have made a difference. It might've been you or Fred..."

"I should have stayed. You were right, my education was more important and I gave it up."

"It— it's whatever now, honestly, George. What's done is done. Your shop is doing just fine."

"Move in with me."

He said it so quickly I hardly processed it.

"W-What?" I stammered.

He blushed deep red.

"I have my own apartment... move in with me."

"George," I said gently, taking his hand. "I'm going back to Hogwarts in like a week.... besides I don't think our parents would be okay with that yet."

"It was worth a try, right?" He asked with a devilish grin. "What's the plan?"

"Plan?"

"For this year."

"Well," I said as he caressed my cheek. "Be a good Head Girl. Don't kill Warrington. Work hard as a Quidditch Captain. Do good in my classes... owl you a lot. Have fun with you at Christmas. Take my end of the year exams, apply for Auror internships, graduate, start an internship... and maybe then we can move in together."

George was grinning like an idiot.

"I like that plan," he said, leaning closer. "God I don't want to wait til December to see you..."

"Well you'll have to," I said as he pressed his lips onto my neck. "But it'll be okay. We'll be okay."

"We will be," he mumbled as he kissed under my jaw. "Yep..."

I pulled his face up and kissed his lips firmly.

"I could take the day off," he moaned against my lips. "We could have fun."

"You have work and I have to go over my duties," I said, arching my neck back as he started kissing it again.

"Do we have to?"

"Yes. It's part of the plan."

"How much fun fun is there in the plan?" He asked, winking.

"We'll see," I laughed, kissing him again.

It felt good to be in his arms again.

__________

"Quick, quick, through the barrier," Mrs Weasley said when we arrived to King's Cross. "Harry had better go first with..."

She nodded to one of the Aurors waiting for us there. The Auror seized Harry's upper arm, attempting to drag him through the barrier like he was some sort of criminal.

"I can walk, thanks," Harry said irritably, making me grin as the Auror continued to haul him into the wall.

"Next you, Beth, with..." Mrs Weasley said, motioning to another Auror. He grabbed my arm in a similar manner to Harry's.

George trotted beside us.

"Maybe he's scared of you," George noted when the Auror released me.

"Oh?" I inquired. "Little baby..."

George put his hands on my hips.

"I'll be seeing you at Christmas," he said.

"I know," I said, smiling. "I'll miss you."

"Owl me a lot," he implored. "Please."

"I will," I said, tiptoeing to kiss him. George leaned in and kissed me harder, now cupping my face in his hands.

"I love you," he mumbled.

"I love you too," I breathed, pulling away and touching his cheek tenderly. "See you soon."

"Go kick ass!" He yelled as I boarded. I turned and blushed since several students had looked at George then at me.

"Bye George," I called.

"That's my girl!" He yelled, pointing at me with a mischievous grin on his face. "Your Head Girl and Gryffindor Quidditch Captain!"

"George!" I whined, covering my face. People around me were smirking.

"Go kick ass, baby!" He said, blowing me a kiss.

"Bye George!" I laughed, shaking my head as I walked into the train.

"That was very cute."

I turned and saw Batavia and Katie beside me.

I threw my arms around both of them and sighed.

"How are you?" I asked.

"Better," Katie said quietly, wincing a bit. "We'll be okay."

Batavia looked at me solemnly and shrugged. "It's going to be different, but we'll make do. We always do. Bixby wouldn't want us... to be depressed all year."

"No, he wouldn't," I agreed.

"Want to find seats?" Katie asked.

"Can't," I sighed. "Have to go show the Prefects what to do..."

"Oooh that's right, you're Head Girl," Batavia squealed, tapping the badge on my chest. "Have fun with Warrington."

"If he tries anything, call us," Katie said, putting her fists together.

"I will," I said, waving as I moved down the aisle. "I'll find you later! Promise!"

"Alright!" Katie called. "Same compartment as always!"

"Gotcha!" I called as I snaked down the hall and into the front car, where several Prefects were gathered.

Warrington made his way to me from the other end of the car.

"Told you it'd be you and me," he said, arrogantly puffing his chest out. I smacked it in and caused him to wheeze.

"You better take this seriously," I said sharply. "Don't think you're so high and mighty because you wear that badge. If I find reason to tell McGonagall you're incompetent, I will."

Warrington rolled his eyes. "Try hard."

"I am NOT a try hard! I just know that some things ought to be taken very seriously."

He smirked.

"You're a feisty one, I'll give you that. Congrats on Quidditch Captain by the way," he said, tapping his own Quidditch Captain badge. "My my we'll be working a lot together, won't we?"

"Professionally," I noted, pushing him away as he leaned toward me. "Don't fucking try anything, Warrington."

"Oh come on, you're not seriously going to stay loyal to Weasley when you're so far away, are you?" He asked.

"I am," I said coldly. "Pity your version of loyalty is so screwed up."

Warrington raised an eyebrow. "Alright then, Potter. Or should I call you Weasley?"

"Do you need me to break your teeth?"

"You wouldn't dare."

"Don't dictate what I would or wouldn't dare to do, Warrington. You'd be surprised."

"Oh I forgot. You killed two men. On accident. I'm so scared."

I glared at him furiously. He seemed to be having fun.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll shut your trap," I snarled, scanning the crowd.

I noticed that the sixth year prefects for Slytherin had changed. Instead of Draco Malfoy, there sat Blaise Zabini beside Pansy Parkinson.

Warrington, as incompetent as he seems, actually managed to contribute a good amount to the instruction we gave at the meeting. When all were dismissed, he turned to me.

"I work well," he said. "I'm not an idiot."

"Could have fooled me."

"Let's be friends. Come on."

"You don't know what a friend is, Warrington."

"Ouch. Don't worry Potter, you'll be singing a different tune soon enough."

"You're oh so convinced you can win me over?" I asked flatly.

"Perhaps we should discuss that later."

"And why not now?"

"Because Draco Malfoy is waving you over."


	66. Chapter 66

Draco Malfoy was urgently waving me over. He was. And it was strange.

I looked at him, and raised my eyebrows.

"Potter!" He hissed, waving more furiously.

Warrington shrugged and I strode toward Malfoy, who grabbed my arm and yanked me into an empty compartment, closing the door and lowering the blinds.

"Woah!" I shrieked, pushing him away. "What—?"

"I need you to come with me after dinner tomorrow," he said, breathing heavily. "I need you to talk to Professor Snape."

"What? Why?" I asked.

"I need your help Potter," he said. "You."

"What FOR?" I asked, looking bewildered.

"I'll tell you later, okay?"

"Malfoy—"

"Draco."

"Draco, can't you just tell me now?"

"No," he said. "I can't. It— it isn't safe here. But you're the only one I think I can trust."

"Trust?" I hissed. "What ARE you doing?"

"It's not your business just yet," he said sharply, holding his left forearm as if it hurt him. "But you— only you will understand what I feel."

"Did you watch someone die—?"

"No!" He spat, looking taken aback. "I just— it needs to be you. You're the good Potter. And you're a good person. You have a way of... of calming things down."

"Since when?" I cried.

"You have a gift, Potter!" He said, his eyes wide with... fear. Yes, it was fear. "You— you've got a way with people. Pucey noticed it, and Diggory, and the Hoganson's— I've heard them all say it. You're someone I can trust. Someone who can help me."

"Draco what is this for—"

"I will tell you later," he said, squeezing his eyes shut. "Just promise me— promise me you'll come meet Professor Snape after tomorrow's dinner."

"Fine," I said, rolling my eyes. "You're bloody weird, Malfoy."

He looked at me fixedly and shrugged.

"So are you... Elizabeth," he muttered before quickly sneaking out the now open compartment door.

Weird.

I stepped out and saw Warrington where I'd left him, his arms crossed.

"What's he going on about?" Warrington asked.

"I thought you might know," I said, cursing internally. If Warrington didn't know— who did?

"He's acting so weird," Warrington noted. "Quitting as a Prefect."

"He QUIT?"

"Yeah," Warrington said. "Dunno why. I'd expect he'd love to be out here bullying first years."

I looked at him strangely. "So you have no clue why he's acting like this?"

"I don't think anyone does," Warrington said. "But if he trusts you... it must be big."

"What do you mean 'if he trusts me?' What are you implying?"

"When has he ever been civil to you, Potter?"

"Once," I said blankly. "Kind of twice— he's never been as rude to me as he has to my brother. He always was fairly civil to me at least individually."

"Slytherin House has always respected you," Warrington said with a smirk. "Pucey wasn't the only one who noticed you were quite a lot more tolerable... even for a Potter and a Gryffindor."

"Gee thanks. I feel ever so special."

"I'm serious," he said. "You're not someone we purposely try to torment— that energy goes to your brat of a brother. He's the Chosen One, not you."

"So the fact that Voldemort didn't want me as a baby means you guys see me almost like any other half blood at the school?"

Warrington flinched a bit at the mention of that name.

"I don't care what HE wanted," he hissed. "My family isn't into that."

"They're not?" I asked in disbelief.

"No nosy, they're not," he said. "We don't really care what he does. The Warringtons have never been involved in that Death Eater crap. The bloke doesn't give us trouble."

"Interesting," I murmured. "So you really don't have any idea what Draco needs."

"No. I told you already," he said bluntly.

"Okay," I said. "Noted." I turned to walk away.

"See you tonight for patrol duty," Warrington said with a sly voice. I rolled my eyes and kept walking down the train.

About halfway to my compartment, a little third year girl stopped me.

She thrust a scroll into my hand.

"For you, Elizabeth Potter," she said quickly before scurrying away.

I opened it and saw it was an invitation for lunch in Compartment C with an H.E.F. Slughorn. Harry had told me about that bloke.

Sighing, I turned back the way I'd come and walked all the way to Compartment C.

When I entered, I saw all familiar faces.

For one there were Harry and Ginny. Then Neville. Blaise Zabini. The annoying Cormac McLaggen, a Gryffindor in my year. Marcus Belby, also in my year.

"My God!" The man I assumed must be Slughorn cried. "Miss Elizabeth Potter at long last!"

I awkwardly slid in beside my brother, who smiled wryly.

"Hello," I said, reaching my hand out. Slughorn shook it happily.

"Merlin!" He cried. "You look EXACTLY like Lily! Exactly! Your hair is shorter of course but my God, the similarities are astounding...."

I smiled awkwardly.

"Now, do you know everyone?" Slughorn asked. "Blaise Zabini is in your brother's year of course.... This is Cormac McLaggen..."

I looked at a wiry haired guy I knew all too well. Arrogant, acted like he ruled everyone and everything. Fatal flaw had to be hubris or something. He winked at me.

"And this is Marcus Belby—"

The thin boy next to Blaise gave a nervous smile. I nodded to him. I believe I had him for Herbology.

"This charming young lady tells me she knows you!" Slughorn said, motioning to Ginny.

"Beth's basically my sister," Ginny said to Slughorn, making him grin. "She's dating my brother."

"Well now this is most pleasant!" Slughorn said. "Very very nice... now this, this is just a chance to get to know you all a little better! Here, take napkins... I've packed by own lunch; the trolley, as I remember, is heavy on licorice wands, and a poor old man's digestive system isn't quite up for such things... Pheasant, Belby?"

Belby began to help himself to the pheasant quite happily.

"I was just telling Marcus here that I had the pleasure of teaching his Uncle Damocles," Slughorn said. "Outstanding wizard, outstanding, and his Order of Merlin most well deserved. Do you see much of your uncle, Marcus?"

Marcus began to choke on the pheasant, turning purple. Slughorn waved his wand and Marcus' eyes bulged slightly.

"Not much of him no," Marcus said, gasping for air.

"Well of course I daresay he's busy," Slughorn said. "I doubt he invented the Wolfsbane Potion without considerable hard work!"

"I suppose," Marcus said, "but er— he and my dad don't get on very well, you see, so I don't really now much about..."

"Now you, Cormac," Slughorn said, apparently now uninterested in Marcus. "I happen to know you see a lot of your Uncle Tiberius, because he has a rather splendid picture of the two of you hunting nogtails in, I think, Norfolk?"

"Oh yeah that was fun, that was," Cormac said. "We went with Bertie Higgs and Rufus Scrimgeour, this was before he became Minister, obviously—"

"You know Bertie and Rufus too?" Slughorn asked, beaming and offering Cormac some pie that had for some reason been offered to everyone but Belby. "So tell me..."

"So," Harry said, leaning closer to me. "You know everyone, right?"

"Yeah," I whispered back.

"Well what— why are they all here?"

"I believe," I said softly, "that everyone here is connected to someone famous or influential. Zabini's mum is filthy rich and stunningly pretty... Married and divorced seven times and mysteriously inherited the gold of all her husbands. McLaggen's idiot arse has famous relatives all over the place, but the most famous is his Uncle Tiberius. Belby of course, also a famous Uncle. Neville— his parents and grandmother. Ginny well— no bloody idea. Then you and I— we're Potters I guess."

"We're Potters I guess?" Harry asked in amusement. "Say— how DID it go with Warrington? Hermione and Ron say he's pretty competent."

"He is, MUCH to my surprise," I giggled. "The idiot wants to be friends."

"Ew," Harry said.

"Tell me about it— he's such an arse," I said

"Now Harry Potter!"

Harry and I jumped.

Slughorn shook his head and laughed. "Where to begin? I feel I barely scratched the surface when we met over the summer! The Chosen One, they're calling you now?"

Harry stayed silent, looking down. Everyone in the compartment was staring at him.

"Of course," Slughorn said, eyeing Harry in a way that made even I feel slightly uncomfortable. "There have been rumors for years... I remember when... well... after that terrible night... Lily— James— and you survived— and the word was that you must have powers beyond the ordinary."

Harry looked perplexed. "Erm—"

"Yes, Harry," Slughorn said. "Powers beyond belief, they say. Such rumors this summer...."

"Beth was the one with powers, sir," Harry blurted out.

"Of course!" Slughorn said. "I know, my dear boy. You, Elizabeth, were gifted with powers straight out of Duquette's Law! Brilliant— magnificent! I remember your grandfather Fleamont, he certainly had fun as a young lad with those powers. As I recall, he transformed quite often into a cat to roam around the halls and sneak in to see your grandmother..."

Harry and I laughed lightly.

We didn't know much about our grandfather.

"Now," Slughorn said, "it seems that, although the Prophet has been known to print inaccuracies, make mistakes— there seems little doubt, given the number of witnesses, that there was quite a disturbance at the Ministry and that you were in the thick of it all."

"There were others there," I said quickly. "Ginny for instance. Several of Harry's friends—"

"You lost a boy, didn't you? The Hoganson boy?"

The compartment went dead silent.

"Yes," I said quietly. "We did."

"A shame really, I heard him and his sister are as brilliant as their mother," he said. Then, in what appeared to be a slight change of subject, he added, "and I hear you are too."

"Well sir not really—"

"So modest!" He said happily. "No Elizabeth, embrace it! So many have said you are the spitting image of Lily and you are, but not only in looks, but brains! Why I saw your NEWT scores for Potions and Transfiguration. Skipped a level for both, didn't you? You ARE your mother through and through, oh! She'd have been ever so proud of you."

I didn't know what to say.

"But ah," Slughorn added. "It is not to be forgotten how much you are like your father. Quidditch Captain, I hear! Magnificent. You and your brother are the perfect examples of a good, proper mix of two wonderful people."

He spoke of Harry and I as if we were a hard to follow recipe.

"I can't even imagine, Elizabeth— losing your best friends twice," Slughorn breathed. My chest tightened.

"Good gracious!" He cried suddenly. "It's getting dark already! I didn't notice they'd lit the lamps! You'd better go and change into your robes, all of you. Well of you go!"

As soon as I walked out, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I am never attending one of those Slug Club meetings again," I said, exasperated.

"Is that what it's called?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," I muttered. "Uncle Remus told me about them— Mum got invited ALL the time."

"Slughorn really knew her," Harry said thoughtfully. I noticed his gaze followed Blaise Zabini. "Hey... I'll see you later."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Nowhere," he said, pulling out his Invisibility Cloak and disappearing.

I sighed, seeing everyone else had gone back to their compartments.

I walked down the train and saw the familiar setting of Hogwarts coming close. There wasn't enough time to go to Batavia and Katie— I had to find Warrington so we could take the first years to the castle in the boats.

I went down the path where he'd been and surely enough, found him exiting his compartment.

"This job sucks ass," I hissed, crossing my arms. "I didn't even get to sit with my friends."

"Ah, you got invited to Slug Club, didn't you?" Warrington said smugly. "I'm not important enough for it."

"I know Warrington."

"Shut up."

I smirked maliciously and strode to the doors. When the train finally came to a stop, I strode out.

"First years!" Warrington bellowed. "First years, over here where carrot head is standing!"

"I'm carrot head?" I hissed, slapping his arm. "God I'm going to break your jaw, Warrington, seriously."

He stuck his tongue out as first years began to gather.

"Wow!" A little auburn haired boy said, looking at me with big eyes. "YOU'RE Elizabeth Potter."

"Um... yeah," I said awkwardly as many wide eyes turned toward me.

"She's got a boyfriend, kid," Warrington said, coming over.

"Is it you?" The little boy asked. I scrunched up my nose and was about to respond when Warrington cut me off.

"Nah— he owns Weasley's Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley," he said. "You know George Weasley?"

"WOW!" The boy said even louder than the first time. "You're Mr Weasley's girlfriend?"

"Yeah," I said, raising an eyebrow at Warrington.

"Okay, come on," Warrington yelled over the crows, not looking at me. "Boats are over here first years!"

I trotted beside him, looking confused.

"Why would I lie to a kid?" Warrington said smugly.

"Because you ARE an arse."

"Have fun working with this arse for this entire year."

"What utter joy. I'm squealing."

Warrington rolled his eyes and turned to the crowd of first years.

"I'm not as famous as her," he said, patting his chest. "So I'll introduce myself. Cassius Warrington, seventh year, Head Boy, Slytherin Quidditch Captain. Elizabeth Potter here is also a seventh year, Head Girl, and Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. We're the people you can come to if you need any help. Later tonight you'll meet your prefects, once you get sorted. We're all here to help you guys have a fun time at Hogwarts. You ready?"

The first years cheered.

"Okay! Four students per boat please!" I called as the excited kids launched themselves into the boats. I looked to Warrington and raised an eyebrow.

"Cassius Warrington," I mocked, tapping my chest. "I'm so cool, I'm a seventh year."

"You didn't say anything for yourself Potter, someone had to be the cool Head Student."

"Arse!" I said in disbelief as he bowed and moved over to help a girl into her boat.

He wasn't so bad.

This was reminding me more and more of Cedric. I hadn't wanted to be friends with him either at first.

I missed him.

Once all the first years had been Sorted, the doors of the Great Hall opened and Harry finally stepped in.

"Where the hell were you?" I hissed as he sat down.

"I'll tell you later," he said, panting. "Has Dumbledore mentioned Voldemort at all?"

"Not yet," Hermione said. "He usually always saves his proper speech for after the feast doesn't he? It can't be long now."

"So what did Slughorn want?" Ron asked, looking at Harry.

"To know what really happened at the Ministry," Harry said.

"Him and everyone else," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Everyone wants to know if you really are the Chosen One—" Ron began.

"There has been much talk on that very subject amongst the ghosts," Nearly Headless Nick said, making me jump and spill my pumpkin juice. Batavia laughed. "I am considered something of a Potter authority, it is widely known that we are friendly. I have assured the spirit community that I will not pester you for information, however, 'Harry and Elizabeth Potter know that they can confide in me with complete confidence' I told them. 'I would rather die than betray their trust.'"

"That's not saying much, seeing as you're already dead," Ron said.

"Ron!" Hermione, Ginny, and Katie all snapped.

"Once again, you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe," Nick said coldly.

"It's very sweet of you, Nick," I said. "Thank you."

Nick sighed and drifted away as Dumbledore got to his feet.

"That was uncalled for," Batavia said to Ron. "How would you like to be dead and have people say things like that to you?"

"Well I'm not dead," Ron said.

Batavia's face twitched. "Well my brother is, so can you be more respectful?"

She said it so furiously that Ron flinched.

"I-I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't mean—"

"Just shut up," Batavia said, turning away.

I shot Ron an angry look.

"The very best of evenings to you!" Dumbledore said, opening his arms as if he planned to hug us all.

"What's wrong with his hand?" I asked, seeing Dumbledore's right hand was blackened and dead looking.

"Nothing to worry about," Dumbledore said, as if he'd read our minds. "Now... to our new students, welcome. To our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you..."

"His hand really does look awful," Hermione whispered.

"It was like that when I saw him over the summer," Harry said. "I thought he'd have cured it by now, though... or Madam Pomfrey would've done..."

"That looks entirely dead," I said. "Some injuries you can't cure though... old curses... if it's poison, maybe there isn't an antidote..."

"...and Mr Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."

I smirked as many turned toward me.

"You're going to be the school's dealer, I swear," Ginny said with a giggle.

"She can't, she's Head Girl!" Hermione said strictly.

"She's right, Ginny," I said solemnly, although I winked.

"Those wishing to play for their House Quidditch team should give their names to their Heads of House as usual."

All my friends leaned over and clapped me on the back.

"Captain Potter," Katie said with a wink.

"....We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise."

"Oh that's right," I said softly, "Lee's graduated..."

"At least he and Alicia got together before that day hit," Batavia noted, not looking too angry anymore.

"Yeah," I said softly. "Dang, I'm going to miss them."

"Me too," Batavia said, biting her lip.

God I missed Bixby.

"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year, Professor Slughorn " Slughorn stood up and smiled. "He is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master."

"Potions?"

"Professor Snape, meanwhile, will be taking the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"No!" Harry said loudly, making everyone's heads snap in his direction.

"Harry, you said Slughorn was going to be teaching Defense Against thee Dark Arts," Hermione said.

"I thought he was!" Harry said. Then, he gritting his teeth, he added "at least Snape'll be gone by the end of the year."

"What? Why?" I asked.

"The job's jinxed. No one lasted more than a year," Harry said scathingly. "Quirrel died doing it... personally I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for another death..."

"Oh will you stop it!" Batavia cried, looking furiously at Harry. "Stop— stop joking about death!"

She got up and stormed out of the Great Hall.

Katie looked at me and I shook my head.

"Later," I said, holding my hand up. I looked at the others with narrow eyes. "Seriously?"

"I'm sorry!" Harry said, looking guilty. I just sighed.

"Now, as everybody in this Hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining strength."

I expected murmurs to break out, but instead the hall went dead silent.

I looked around. Fearful faces glanced up at Dumbledore. Malfoy, who was across from me, looked down, continuing to levitate his fork in midair.

"I cannot emphasize strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe. The castle's Magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer. We are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or staff member. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose on you, however irksome you might find them— in particular the rule that you are not to be out after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a staff member immediately."

He looked up and sighed gravely.

"As many of you know," he said, "this past summer has been difficult for some of your peers. We lost... a wonderful student."

I sucked in air forcefully.

"The new plaque that rests on the outside wall, placed by this year's Head Girl Elizabeth Potter, stands to commemorate the bravery that Bixby Hoganson showed in the Department of Mysteries just months ago, saving the lives of the many other students Involved in the ordeal. I ask you respect this plaque. May it remind you that Lord Voldemort does not care who he hurts, and that in order to keep safe, you must do your part. Do not forget that a fellow student sacrificed his life in order for you to be safe in this castle. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and others' safety, as Mr Hoganson did."

I didn't realize I was crying until Dumbledore paused.

The faces around the Great Hall were similar— distraught. Katie was also crying.

Dumbledore looked around at us. "Now your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say good night. Pip pip!"

"Beth," Harry said.

"I need to go for night duty," I sighed. "Tell me later, okay?"

He nodded as I jogged over to the entrance hall, where Warrington and I were supposed to monitor the flow of students to their respective Houses.

"You okay?" Warrington murmured.

"Yeah," I said, wiping my eyes.

"I didn't know him well," he said. "But he was cool."

"He was," I whispered.

God Bixby... I miss you.


	67. Chapter 67

The following day after dinner, I hurried full speed to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

The fact Snape now resided in there kind of freaked me out.

After so many years, he'd gotten what he wanted. It unnerved me.

Walking through the halls again made my very skin tingle.

I didn't understand why I was missing Cedric so much lately.

When I reached the door, I knocked, out of respect.

Seconds later I was yanked in.

"Oi— calm down!" I hissed to Draco, who had seized me by the neck of my shirt.

Snape looked at me. "Miss Potter, welcome. Come, sit."

I went forward and sat across from his desk. Draco sat a bit aways, but relatively near.

What on Earth could this be about?

"It seems," Snape said, looking at Draco, "that it's your turn to speak."

Draco looked at me and cleared his throat. "Well... I've been given a task."

"I'm not a Death Eater," I said. "What am I supposed to do about it?"

"Can you just listen?" Draco said, the corner of his mouth twitching.

"Fine."

He lifted his sleeve to reveal a Dark Mark, and I sucked my breath in.

"No," I murmured. "You— you're a kid..."

"My father failed," Draco said, shaking his head. "I'm practically his replacement. And I've been given a task. I won't tell you the nature of it, that certainly isn't any of your business."

"So you don't need help with the task," I said.

"No, not at all."

"Well good," I said. "I wouldn't have helped you with it anyway— what the hell is this about?"

"Moral support," Draco blurted out, turning pink. "Like I said. You have a way of calming people. Helping them think clearly. And I know you're a good friend. You won't say anything."

"Depends what the bloody hell you're doing," I scoffed. "If you're going to be killing people, I'm not going to sit there and comfort you!"

"I'm not going to be killing people," Draco hissed. "I just need someone I can trust to be there for me."

"Why don't you get some of your Slytherin friends? They can help more—"

"They're not real friends, Elizabeth," Draco said sharply. "I can't trust them. I can't be vulnerable around them. I'm their bloody leader, you really think they'll accept weakness from me?"

I shrugged. "I suppose not. But why me—?"

"I told him to seek you out," Snape said, making me snap my head in his direction. "I'm in charge of keeping Draco safe. He does not like this, and will not accept my help, so the least I can do is offer him someone who will be able to help him persevere."

This wasn't making any sense.

"And what do I get in return?" I hissed.

Snape looked fixedly at me. "You may go Draco, I won't have you making threats. Miss Potter, I must speak to you alone."

Draco left immediately, and Snape's office door opened to reveal Dumbledore.

"What?" I spluttered. "What—?"

"Elizabeth," Dumbledore said gently, coming over. "This matter is more serious than you think."

I looked between him and Snape.

"You need to tell me the truth," I said. "Now."

"Severus has told me that Draco's task is to kill me," Dumbledore said, smiling a bit and covering his blackened hand.

"And you're smiling?" I cried. "Dumbledore—"

"It is part of a plan," Dumbledore said. "Elizabeth you will not understand it for some time and neither will Harry but this must happen, I must be killed in the end. Draco will not succeed right away but he will eventually and it must come to pass."

"No!" I cried. "I can't just let you die!"

"You must," he said. "You must."

I looked at him angrily.

"Elizabeth," he said, taking off his crescent moon glasses. "Draco needs a friend. You are a good candidate. But the reason Severus chose you is because of your ties with me and your brother— you would understand that we must let Draco carry this out and you'd figure out how to agree and be there for him. Harry is too rash— Harry will hurt Draco. Their rivalry is venomous."

"So you chose me simply because you knew I'd listen to you," I said.

"You are playing a role in the defeat of Voldemort," Dumbledore said. "You, in time, will get to know why my death was needed. No one else will get that chance. So knowing that, you'll understand why Draco needs help and you'll be able to help without judging him. You said it yourself, he is just a child. He doesn't have a soul in the world that understands him. You need to be his friend."

I understood what he meant. I did. Only I knew all this situation well enough to disregard Draco's mission and be there for him to succeed at it because Dumbledore needed it to happen.

I still didn't like that it meant Dumbledore had to die.

"So what, I keep this secret from Harry?" I asked. "He'll want to know why I'm suddenly Draco's best pal."

"You cannot tell anyone," Snape said immediately. "In fact, you and Draco are not to be mingling in public. Only when he needs you, and in private."

"Secret friends," I said. "Lovely."

"It is essential for our plan, Elizabeth," Dumbledore said, looking slightly distraught. "Please. We need you."

I sighed. "Fine. But you really do owe me an explanation about all this."

"In time," Dumbledore assured me. "Additionally, I'm not sure if Harry told you— I'm giving him private lessons. Looking into Voldemort's past. Searching. You may join us, if you'd like."

"Oh I'm too busy for that, I'm sorry," I said, wincing. "I'm... I'm good with not dealing with Voldemort for awhile."

Dumbledore's eye twinkled. "I thought you might say that. It is fine, Elizabeth. Take time to recover and be a good Head Girl. Harry can handle it. I will have him inform you of our progress from time to time."

"Cool," I said, breathing deeply. "Is that it then? I have rounds."

"Yes of course," Dumbledore said, smiling. "Thank you, Miss Potter."

"You're welcome," I sighed, leaving the classroom.

I had to be secret friends with Draco Malfoy. What utter joy.

I found Warrington waiting for me near the entrance hall.

"Everything good?" He asked.

"Fine," I said cooly. "Shall we begin?"

"Begin what?" He asked playfully, looking me up and down.

"Warrington, stop it," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Sorry Potter, I don't think I can."

"You'd better or I'll get you kicked off."

"Better hope we don't kick you out of the sky at our first match."

I bit my lip. Warrington chuckled.

"I have to set a tryout date," I muttered. "Fuck."

"Oh!" Warrington said. "Language, Potter."

"I'll stop when you stop looking like a baboon's backside," I said sweetly as we walked down the hall.

Warrington bumped into me and I growled, slamming back against him.

"You're hitting on me?" He inquired with a malicious smirk.

"Oh sod OFF, bloody hell," I hissed, crossing my arms and peering into an empty classroom.

"We can take points off of other houses, right?" Warrington asked slyly.

"Don't be an idiot about it," I scolded, looking into another classroom. I found a couple passionately snogging. They looked familiar, but it was too dark to see properly.

"Oh let's bust them," Warrington said, waving his wand to make the door fly open.

"Lumos!" I said, thrusting my wand inside to illuminate the classroom.

"Beth!"

I blinked and stared at her. "Ginny. And Dean..."

Dean Thomas looked at me sheepishly and hung his head.

Warrington laughed cruelly. "Weaslette. Thomas. Sneaky little gits— fifteen points from Gryffindor."

Ginny looked indignant but I shook my head.

"To bed," I said. "Both of you."

Ginny looked hurt that I hadn't challenged Warrington, and stormed out past me, Dean at her heels.

"That's your sister, isn't it?" Warrington asked, still laughing. "She is hot—"

I slapped him across the cheek with blinding speed.

"Don't you dare speak about her that way," I hissed, angrily continuing down the hall.

"Very very feisty, Potter," Warrington said, jogging to catch up to me. "Weasley surely can't handle you—"

I wheeled around and slapped him again.

"Bloody hell woman you are in a TERRIBLE mood," Warrington snapped, backing away.

"I'm not taking your shit, okay?" I snarled, glaring daggers at him. "I didn't ask to be partnered with you and I'm not liking it so far. Do your job properly and stop hitting on me! I'm sick of it!"

"You Gryffindors are so fucking sensitive," Warrington said, rolling is eyes. "Me saying you have a fine arse and rack should be a compliment, not an insult."

"Say that about me again and I will hex you into oblivion," I said, thrusting a finger to point at the scars on my neck. "Know where that's from? Dealing with Bellatrix Lestrange. Trust me, taking you down would be the easiest thing I've ever done. Don't test me."

Warrington smirked. "Fine. Damn Potter, who hurt you?"

"Voldemort, who did you think?" I hissed.

Warrington looked at me.

We both burst out laughing.

"I mean— technically you are right," he said, covering his mouth. "But God, that just— it's so weird to hear someone say it."

"You are so bloody annoying," I said, shaking my head to stop myself from smiling.

"You'll learn to love me," Warrington said with fake sweetness.

"You're dreaming."

"If I was dreaming, you wouldn't be wearing anything."

I shot him a nasty look and he winked. I rolled my eyes and walked onward.

This was going to be a tough year.

________

I decided to set tryouts for that Saturday, since the list for trying out was full by Thursday.

"My god," I said to Katie as we headed down to the pitch. "Are all those trying out?"

Katie smirked.

We found pretty much half of Gryffindor House had turned up to try out. There were even first years there— and several seventh years including that idiot Cormac McLaggen from Slughorn's compartment on the train.

As soon as I walked up, McLaggen ran up to me and smoothed his hair back.

Katie looked between us and raised an eyebrow.

"Hi," I said, looking in confusion at McLaggen.

He smirked and shook my hand firmly. "We met on the train in old Sluggy's compartment. Cormac McLaggen, Keeper."

"Old Sluggy?" I asked.

McLaggen smiled arrogantly.

I whipped out my clipboard and found his name. "Alright— so you didn't try out... your entire time in Hogwarts. Why?"

"Well," he said very seriously, "I was going to try out last year. But I was in the hospital wing the day they held the trials. Ate a pound of doxy eggs for a bet."

"A pound," I said slowly. "A POUND?"

"Impressive, huh?" He said, winking.

I didn't bat an eyelash. "My boyfriend ate a pound and a half for a bet."

Katie laughed. "In our first year! I remember!"

"George Weasley?" McLaggen asked, frowning slightly.

"Yeah," I said, smiling smugly. "George Weasley."

"Well," he said, breathing out. "That's... pretty cool. He's your boyfriend, you say?"

"Yep," I said, showing him the promise ring.

"Damn," he said, turning to Katie. She shook her head. "All the pretty ones are snatched! Who's your boyfriend, gorgeous?"

Katie's jaw went slack. "He's dead."

Jeez, Katie.

McLaggen seemed to have thought the same thing. His eyes went wide.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "B-Bixby Hoganson?"

"Yes," she said flatly. "Bixby Hoganson."

McLaggen looked a bit guilty. "I'm— I'm really sorry doll, I didn't remember..."

Katie said nothing, and McLaggen awkwardly shuffled away.

Once he was out of earshot, Katie sighed loudly and looked down.

"I don't feel like I can ever date anyone again," she said softly. "I mean we were together for... three years."

I didn't know what to say. Should I say Bixby wouldn't want her to be alone? But what if he did?

"It hurts every day," she said, closing her eyes. "To think he's gone. I don't want to believe it. I don't like it."

"He's not physically here, no," I said softly, feeling my chest ache. "But we're never, ever going to forget him."

"I know," Katie said, shaking her head. "God— why him... why him... I feel so awful for saying it but why not... Neville or somebody."

"Katie you don't mean that," I said sternly.

"I do," she said. "And I'm sorry but WHY Bixby. Why...."

She shook her head again and walked into the stands.

I took a deep breath and shook my arms, scanning the field and noticing people from other Houses were here.

"Okay," I said. "If there's anyone here not from Gryffindor, please leave."

Several Hufflepuffs groaned and went to sit in the stand along with some giggly girls from Gryffindor who clearly were not going to try out.

"I need you guys to take this very seriously," I said, looking over the people gathered here. "You know as well as I do, if you're standing here, that Quidditch is not a 'whatever' kind of sport. You put your heart and soul into it, got it?"

Several of them nodded.

"There are one and a half Chaser positions open," I said. When I got confused stares I held my hand up. "Katie Bell here has been on the team as long as I have. However, it does not mean she will be put in again. I'm not biased. Katie is very, very good. If two people prove better, she can and will be replaced. You are not at a disadvantage. Play at your absolute best, okay? Anyone who wants to be a Chaser, step up."

Less than ten people stepped up. Among them were Ginny, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, and a particular fourth year named Demelza Robbins.

I had them all do a series of drills. After taking lots of notes and some feedback from Harry, who was munching on some biscuits beside me, we decided it would remain Katie, Ginny, and I as Chasers, with Demelza as our backup. She would train with us, and depending on injuries or availability, she would be rotated in.

"Very good," I said, smiling as Ginny came and high fived Demelza and Katie. "Good job everyone, if you are done please be seated."

Unfortunately, none of the Beaters that came to tryouts were very bright. Like Crabbe and Goyle kind of dull. Definitely not as brilliant as the twins— and not as funny either. In fact, they were so boring, and all they did was bicker. Once the final Beaters had been decided, several of them began to complain.

"I have made my decision!" I hissed. "Don't be sore losers about it!"

Someone muttered a series of obscenities and I rolled my eyes.

"Seekers, next!" I called. Only a few dared to come and challenge Harry. Ginny was among them.

"Double deal?" I asked, smirking when I wrote her name down.

"You need a backup," she reminded me. "You know Harry."

"Brittle. A troublemaker," I noted. "Yes ma'am I know Harry."

Ginny laughed and tossed her hair in a ponytail.

Of course it really was no contest. Harry performed the drills the best and kept his position, and Ginny was appointed back up Seeker. In the event that he was unavailable, Ginny would substitute and Demelza would rotate in, making Dean Thomas our backup Chaser.

Next came the Keeper tryouts. I put Ginny and Katie in charge of trying to score on them, which was catastrophic for all the first few people who tried out since they sincerely sucked quite a bit.

McLaggen only saved six out of seven penalties. One he'd missed had been from me, and the other had been strange— he'd gone the total opposite direction of the Quaffle.

I looked around. What was there as a distraction? I assumed perhaps the glint of a mirror...

Until I noticed Hermione, who was sitting nearest the hoops, her wand held up slightly.

"Sneaky," I whispered, shaking my head.

Ron went up, and he was so nervous I could see him shaking.

"Go Ron!" Lavender Brown squealed from the stands. I looked over at her in confusion. What was up with them?

Ron grinned to her, then flew up to the goalpost. He saved all seven penalties.

"Excellent," I said to Harry, who was standing next to me, clapping with the rest of the crowd. "Let me tell McLaggen he didn't make it—"

I turned to walk down the stands, only to find McLaggen coming up.

"Hello," I said cheerily. "Well McLaggen, you're our backup—"

"I want a rematch!" He said angrily.

"Excuse me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"His sister didn't really try," McLaggen snapped. "She gave him an easy save."

"Rubbish!" I said. "That's the one he nearly missed— are you kidding me?"

"Give me another go," McLaggen demanded. "Come on, Potter."

"No," I said, crossing my arms. "You had your go. You saved six. Ron saved seven. Seven is greater than six, McLaggen. Ron's Keeper, he won fair and square. Get out of my way."

McLaggen raised his arm as if he was about to smack me, and Harry dove in front of him, catching his arm.

Harry growled. "Hit my sister and I'll break your face, McLaggen. And you better pray to God I don't catch you trying anything with her or I'll have to call George so he can bring his old Beater's bat to practice hitting Bludgers at you."

McLaggen breathed deeply and forced his hand out of Harry's grip and stormed away.

I didn't realize I was shaking until Harry put his hand on my shoulder.

"He was gonna hit me," I mumbled.

"Fucking arse," Harry hissed, trudging down the stands.

I simply couldn't believe it.

McLaggen had been about to hit me.


	68. Chapter 68

The next week was relatively calm.

Night duty with Warrington wasn't as bad as I'd expected it to be. He was learning to keep his distance, although that didn't stop him from making snide comments about people he didn't like or teasing Ron about last year's less than satisfactory Keeper skills.

"I'm saying," Warrington said, looking down the corridor as if he was preaching to a congregation, "why would you even wear so much makeup if it doesn't make you look better? She's an idiot!"

"She feels pretty with it so you'll leave her alone!" I cried, looking indignantly at him. "She doesn't have to explain herself to you!"

"Okay but she looks horrible," Warrington said.

"You're one to talk, you look horrible ALL the time," I said as I rolled my eyes.

Warrington scowled. "Ravenclaws are supposed to be the smartest. Gianna Tamakaya, you're downright stupid."

"You are the worst," I said. "Insulting a girl for wanting to feel pretty. You know how horrible it is? Growing up and dealing with other girls talking crap? And you do something so YOU can feel beautiful and everyone treats you like shit anyway?"

"I certainly don't know how horrible it is," Warrington said blankly. "Haven't ever experienced it."

"Of course not," I snapped. "You just don't get it..."

I would end up hexing him one of these days, I knew it.

The worst part about that following week, in my opinion, was Slug Club that Friday night.

I'd been minding my own business during my free period, heading back to my dorm which happened to be near the dungeons, and I came across Slughorn.

"Miss Potter!" He chirped happily, coming over.

"Hello Professor," I said with a smile, holding my books steady.

"Off to study hard I see, just like Lily," he sighed.

I smiled awkwardly.

"Now listen," he said. "How about stopping by for supper in my room? I've invited several of the students from the compartment on the train— you know McLaggen, Zabini, and some new students! Such as the charming Melinda Bobbin. I don't know whether you know her? Her family owns a large chain of apothecaries. And of course, I hope very much Miss Granger will favor me by coming too, I've invited her, you see."

"Ah," I said, not really wanting to go. "Well I'll see about it... I need to be ready for rounds—"

"It'll take the place of your dinner of course!" He said happily. "You'll have time for your rounds, not to worry! Oh please do come, your brother has detention with Snape and can't make it..."

Harry had detention. Wonderful.

"I'll er— stop by then," I said, smiling a bit less than before. "Thank you, Professor."

"No, thank you!" He said before leaving down the hall.

When I got to my dorm, I growled and threw my books on the couch.

"Woah there sweetheart," Warrington said, peeking in from the doorway of his room. "If Weasley's giving you trouble I'd be more than happy to take your mind off it..."

"It's Slughorn," I said, rolling my eyes at his comment. "He— he's invited me to Slug Club again!"

"Ooh, Elite," Warrington said. "And this is a problem... why?"

"Because I don't want to go," I said, shaking my head. "Too many people."

"You're more antisocial than you let on, Potter," Warrington said, coming in and arranging my books on the table. "And you seem to have a thing against large crowds. Lights. Honestly if you weren't so nice I'd think you were in the early stages of psychopathy."

"Oh shut up," I said, picking my books up and carrying them into my room, setting them on my desk.

"Slughorn picks favorites," Warrington called from the Common Room. "It's his thing. Trust me— you are one lucky witch. You get so many advantages, just give him a chance."

"I don't want to be there," I whined. "I don't want..."

I bit my lip.

Warrington shuffled into my room.

"Don't want what?" He asked.

"Get out, it's nothing."

Warrington furrowed his brows. "Come on Potter, I'm Head Boy, I'm not THAT stupid. Something or someone in Slug Club bothers you."

I shook my head.

"Nothing— no one," I said quickly. "God Warrington, stop being so bloody nosy."

I brushed past him to the door.

"Damn," he said dramatically. "Thought we were friends."

"We are NOT friends," I said.

"Well we can be something else then— acquaintances," he said.

"We ARE acquaintances."

"Maybe acquaintances... with benefits?"

"Sod off, holy crap," I hissed, storming out as Warrington burst out laughing behind me.

_________

Once I saw there was assigned seating, I wanted to jump out of the Astronomy Tower.

"Murder me," I whispered as I passed by Ginny, who was comfortably seated between Melinda Bobbin and Hermione. I however, was forced to sit between McLaggen and Slughorn.

"This pheasant is delicious," Slughorn said. "Do forgive me, pheasant is my favorite..."

I laughed awkwardly and kept eating.

McLaggen leaned closer and I scooted slightly away. He smirked and winked. My jaw tightened.

"So tell us, Elizabeth," Slughorn said happily. "What are your plans for the future? I assume you have a very, very bright path ahead."

I cleared my throat. "Well... I'd very much like to get Os on my NEWTs. Graduate. Erm... move in with my boyfriend." I emphasized boyfriend and glared daggers at McLaggen, who looked indifferent. "Then start Auror training while working part time somewhere in Diagon Alley— maybe the pet shop, I'm quite good with creatures."

Slughorn smiled. "My my you do indeed have a lot in store for you. How did you come about being good with creatures?"

My chest tightened.

"My... my friend Bixby was very good with them," I said softly.

"Ah yes," Slughorn mused. "Took after his great grandfather he did, Bixby Hoganson the first. He became a mazoologist I believe... I'm not too sure. He helped write books with Newt Scamander, he did. Wanted to be just like him, I remember. Ambitious boy he was. Always a pleasure in class. I expect your friend was very much the same?"

The table was quiet.

"He was, yes," I said. "Very kind. Patient. Creatures loved him, they did. Bowtruckles... they despised his sister, she wasn't gentle enough. Flocked him like he was their mother."

Slughorn laughed heartily. "How horrible it is, to lose someone. And to have them be killed by their father... such a sad scene it must have been. Broderick never could control his temper."

I felt my skin start to burn.

"A true hero," Slughorn said in a melancholy manner. "I'd have loved to meet him."

I smiled wryly, feeling my fists ball up.

"Professor," McLaggen cut in. "My Uncle was telling me just the other day..."

I let him fade out and breathed deeply.

God I missed Bixby.

When the dinner ended, I stood up quickly.

"Beth!"

I saw McLaggen following me out and groaned internally.

"Need something?" I asked a bit coldly.

"Allow me to walk you back to your dorm," he said, flashing me a smirk.

"I'm good, don't worry," I said quickly, backing away.

McLaggen faltered. "What's the problem, Beth?"

"I don't want anything to do with you," I blurted out. "Please— leave me alone."

His face twitched. "Now you don't mean that. Don't be silly, Elizabeth—"

He stepped forward and held my wrist, and I immediately removed myself from his grip.

"Don't touch me," I said sharply.

"Why are you acting like I'm hurting you?" He snapped.

"Please McLaggen just LEAVE ME ALONE."

He stepped closer and I winced, backing myself into a wall.

"Are you playing hard to get, is that it?" He said, grabbing my wrists and pinning them by my sides.

I was too paralyzed to do anything.

"I-I'm not," I stammered. "Get off—"

"You're a catch, Elizabeth," he said silkily. "What's so bad about me? Come on. Go on a date with me. Hogsmeade, in two weekends."

"No, McLaggen—"

"Come with me," he hissed, squeezing my wrists.

"N-No—"

"McLaggen get off of her."

McLaggen released me immediately, and whirled around to face Warrington, who looked absolutely furious.

"Warrington," McLaggen sniffed, looking angry.

"Back off McLaggen," Warrington snarled. "Just because her boyfriend isn't here doesn't mean you have the liberty to force yourself onto her. Be a good boy and go away before I rip your tongue out."

McLaggen gulped slightly and trudged away.

I breathed deeply and looked at Warrington.

"Thank you," I whispered. "Why are you here?"

"Are you kidding?" He huffed. "You were very clear something or someone in Slug Club made you scared. I wasn't just going to let you walk back yourself. Besides, we have rounds."

I offered him a small smile.

"You didn't have to," I said.

"McGonagall would kill me if I let you get hurt," he said. "And I'm sure Weasley himself would come and kill me."

"You're nice when you want to be Warrington," I noted. He smiled.

"Not all Slytherins are complete assholes, you know," he said. "We're loyal to those we care about, just try not to show it in public because everyone else sees us as emotionally closed off blobs of evil. It would make our House seem weak. Some of us are nice, Potter."

"Thank you," I repeated. "Thank you... Cassius."

He turned slightly red and cleared his throat. "Shut up Potter I'm not THAT soft."

He turned away and headed to the entrance hall. I couldn't help but smirk.

__________

September continued to drag on.

Class workloads weren't that bad, to be honest. Everything was pretty doable and I found myself really enjoying my last year.

After that Slug Club evening, Ginny had confided in me how much she despised going.

Harry had the brilliant idea that I should schedule Quidditch practices the nights Slughorn had dinners, which meant he, Ginny, and I would be free from the burden of having to go.

"You are truly a sort of genius," I said, ruffling his hair. An overjoyed Ginny had gone to snog Dean after.

That's when I noticed Harry's expression drop.

As Ginny and Dean connected their lips and scrambled over to leave the library, I noticed Harry's eyes following them intently, as if he was analyzing their every move.

"You fancy Ginny," I said.

Harry looked quickly at me, then around. "Of course I don't..."

But then he gulped and sighed.

"Okay, I do," he mumbled. "I think I do. You— you're the first person I've told."

"My my, aren't I special?" I cooed. "Aw... you have a crush..."

"Should I make a move or something?" He asked sheepishly.

"God no, not while she's with Dean," I said. "Trust me, they won't last all year. Just subtly talk to her more, be around her more. I know she never really got over her crush on you."

"She had a crush on me?" Harry spluttered.

"Good God you're oblivious," I said. "She fancied you like crazy since she met you up until about.. your fourth year. Then she got over you and started dating. She grew."

"I'm stupid," Harry said. I winked and he scowled playfully.

"So how are you and George?" He asked.

"He writes to me all the time," I said thoughtfully. "And I write back all the time. I miss him, he misses me, he's keeping in mind that he may need to schedule a trip to come pound McLaggen's face in."

"He asked me for permission to marry you," Harry blurted out.

"Really?" I asked.

"At the Burrow in the summer," he said. "He said he really loves you and wants to ask you to marry him at your graduation."

"I may someday forgive you for spoiling that for me," I said, shaking my head.

I was heart warmed.

"How did you know you were ready?" Harry asked. "To start dating him?"

"Well after all that bickering, we both just... knew," I said. "Our situation was so different though, Harry."

"Yeah true. So what's the deal with Warrington?"

"He's an ass," I said. "But he's a good bloke when he wants to be. Remember how I told you how he defended me against McLaggen? McLaggen hasn't given me problems since."

I sighed.

"Warrington reminds me of Cedric a bit. Someone who turned out to be a better person than I thought they'd be."

"So is Warrington your friend now?"

"I dunno," I said. "He's been listening to me rant about stuff the past two weeks and has offered some great advice. He even brought me ice cream one night when he heard me crying after a nightmare I had— one from the Ministry. He said he has two shoulders if I need to cry. I suppose he could be my friend."

"That's nice, for a Slytherin," Harry admitted.

"Yeah," I said with a laugh. "I guess we've misjudged them. They can be good people."

Harry scoffed. "Malfoy could never be good."

How even was Draco? He hadn't needed me yet.

"Maybe he has some good too," I said. "We just need to get to know them all."

Harry shrugged. "Well... I'll see you. You going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

"Yes," I said happily. "Will I be seeing you there?"

"Of course," he said, waving as he got up and left.

My little brother was growing up.

_________

The morning of the Hogsmeade trip.

It started kind of shitty since I ripped my favorite jeans when I was trying to get them on.

Then when I got breakfast, the waffles were cold.

Then Batavia decided she didn't want to go anymore and insisted she needed to be alone, and Katie apologized and said she wanted to be with Leanne this time around.

I ended up walking into Hogsmeade alone, my arms wrapped tightly around myself.

I walked into The Three Broomsticks straight away and ordered a Butterbeer, and turned outside to see it was snowing lightly.

"It's snowing early this year," I said to Madam Rosmerta's new assistant, Vivienne, as she brought me my cup.

"It is," she said, smiling. "I'm glad I caught you. A nice young man came in earlier and told me to tell you to meet him upstairs in one of the motel rooms— four, I believe."

"What did he look like?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Red hair, freckles, devilish smile," she said, winking.

I blushed and smiled, feeling my heart skip a beat. "Bless you, Vivienne."

She giggled as I bounded up the stairs.

I opened the door to room 4 and saw George sitting on the bed, tinkering with some gears. He looked up and smiled.

"Surprise," he said, winking.

"Oh I missed you!" I squealed as he ran forward and picked me up, spinning me around.

"And I missed you," he said, kissing me firmly on the lips. "My god you look amazing."

"I don't look any different!" I said, smiling as he took my butterbeer and took a heavy swig.

"You always look good baby," he said, kissing my cheek. He patted the spot beside him. "Now... what do you want to do?"  
_____________

George's arm was wrapped tightly around me when we exited, and I leaned into him.

The path was snowy now, and people were trickling back into the castle.

"Beth! George!"

I turned and saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurrying to catch up to us.

"Hello there," George said.

"Whatcha doing here?" Ron asked.

"Visiting my girl, what did you think?" George said, smirking as he trailed his hand down to squeeze my hip gently.

"Can you come into the castle?" Harry asked.

"Nah, only so far as the gate. Security is too tight. But I'll be back!" He said. "Don't you worry."

I smiled and looked forward, seeing Katie and Leanne walking in front of us. They seemed to be arguing.

Suddenly Katie collapsed, and Leanne let out a terrible scream.

I sprinted forward on impulse, and crouched down beside Katie.

"Katie," I said quickly, leaning forward. "Katie— can you hear me?"

"What's wrong with her?" Leanne cried fearfully.

"I dunno," I said. "But—"

Katie's body suddenly began to thrash around on the floor. George pulled Leanne and I back immediately and I covered my mouth to muffle a scream.

Katie was seizing now, her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Then suddenly, her body rose into the air and she floated gracefully for a moment, her eyes closed and arms outstretched, but then suddenly her eyes snapped open and she let out a horrifying scream, looking as though she was in agonizing pain. Then without warning, her body dropped to the floor and she lay, staring at us, not knowing who we were.

"Katie?" I cried, my eyes welling up with tears.

"I'm going for help," Harry said. "Don't touch her."

He sprinted to the school full speed. I looked at a package that lay on the ground.

"What is that?" I asked.

"I don't know! She came out of the bathroom with it and I was just asking her about it!" Leanne cried, muffling her loud voice in her hands.

George put his hands on my shoulder, his eyes nervously scanning the package.

"That must be cursed," he mumbled.

"Stand aside!"

Harry had just come back with Hagrid, who picked Katie up and began going to the school with her and Leanne.

"That's cursed," Harry said, making George nod quickly. Harry looked at me. "Beth— remember the time, years ago, we went to Diagon Alley and met Gilderoy Lockhart?"

"Yeah, what about it?" I asked.

"Remember how I ended up in Knockturn Alley— in a shop called Borgin and Burkes?"

"Yes— what is it, Harry?"

"That thing was there," he said, thrusting a finger at the necklace. "And it's label said it was cursed."

A shiver ran through my body.

I immediately suspected Draco.

"Katie must have touched it," I said, feeling my heart beating very heavily.

"I bet this was Malfoy's doing," Harry said scathingly as we ran back to the school. "He saw it that day, he must've remembered it and gone back for it."

"Gone back?" I asked in disbelief.

"We spied on him that day we went to Fred and George's shop," Harry said quickly. "I-I'll tell you later."

"I—I dunno Harry," Ron cut in. "Loads of people go to Borgin and Burkes. And... Leanne said that Katie found it in the girl's bathroom."

"She said she came back from the bathroom with it!" Harry said. "She didn't necessarily get it in the bathroom itself!"

We reached the entrance and George turned me to face him.

"This is as far as I can go," he said, pulling me in for a kiss. "I'll see you soon— take care of Katie! I love you."

"I love you too," I said as he sprinted back and Harry dragged me into the castle.

McGonagall met us immediately.

"Hagrid says you four saw what happened to Katie Bell!" McGonagall said. "Up to my office at once, please, Leanne is already there. What is that you're holding, Mr Potter?"

"The thing she touched," Harry said, holding the wrapped package.

"Good lord," McGonagall said, snatching it from him. "Filch! Take this necklace to Professor Snape at once, but be sure not to touch it, keep it wrapped in the packaging and this scarf!"

McGonagall led us to her office full speed.

Leanne explained everything she'd already told us again.

"What happened when Katie touched the necklace?" McGonagall asked.

"She seized for a moment then rose in the air and screamed," I said.

"Professor, I need to see Professor Dumbledore," Harry said.

"The Headmaster is away until Monday, Potter," McGonagall said.

"Away?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Yes Potter, away!" McGonagall said. "But anything you have to say about this horrible business can be said to me, I'm sure!"

"I think Draco Malfoy gave Katie that necklace, Professor," Harry said.

I looked at him and frowned.

"That is a very serious accusation, Potter," McGonagall said. "Do you have any proof?"

"No but," Harry said, then proceeding to explain to her and I what he, Hermione, and Ron had seen that day in Knockturn Alley.

"You saw Malfoy leaving the shop with a similar package?" McGonagall asked.

"No, Professor, he told Borgin to keep it in the shop for him," Harry said.

"But Harry, Borgin asked him if he wanted to take it with him and Malfoy said no!" Hermione said.

"Because he didn't want to touch it, obviously!" Harry said.

"He asked, 'How would I look carrying that down the street?'" Hermione clarified.

"Like a prat if he was carrying a necklace," Ron said.

"Oh but Ron!" Hermione said. "It would've been wrapped up, then he wouldn't have touched it or have been seen with it. I think whatever he reserved at Borgin and Burkes was noisy or bulky, something he knew would draw attention to him if he caddied it down the street— and in any case, I asked Borgin—"

"That's enough!" McGonagall said. She stared at Harry.

"Potter, I appreciate you telling me this, but we cannot point the finger of blame at Mr Malfoy purely because he visited the shop where this necklace might have been purchased," McGonagall said. "The same is probably true of hundreds of people—"

"—that's what I said—" Ron muttered.

"— and in any case, we have put stringent security measures in place this year," McGonagall said. "I don't believe that necklace can possibly have entered this school without our knowledge."

"But—" Harry protested.

"And what's more!" McGonagall said. "Mr Malfoy was not in Hogsmeade today, he was in detention with me! So thank you for your suspicions, Potter, but it is time for you to leave."

Harry looked angry and stormed out.

I immediately ran to the Defense classroom, and halfway down the corridor was dragged into a classroom.

"What the—?"

I saw Draco Malfoy, looking distressed, staring with wide eyes.

"I saw it from the bloody window," he said, his eyes bulging out of the sockets. "Is she dead?"

"No Draco— What— was it you?"

"It wasn't meant for her I swear," he stammered.

"It's okay," I said quickly, my heart beating fast. "It— it's okay."

He looked at me. "I-I know this is weird. B-But I need..."

He looked down. "I need you to hold me while I cry."

I didn't hesitate. I rushed forward and wrapped my arms around him, and almost immediately he began to sob uncontrollably.

We seriously misjudged how soft Slytherins could be.


	69. Chapter 69

Katie was sent to St Mungos the following day, which only made Batavia sink deeper into a sort of depressive state.

"Everyone is leaving and everyone is dying," she whispered as I held her, my arms wrapped around her.

I'd gotten rather good at holding people.

"She's gonna be okay," I said, rubbing her back.

"What if she isn't?" Batavia muttered. "What if she dies?"

"She isn't going to die, Batavia," I said sharply. "Come on..."

Batavia scoffed. "You don't know that. Nobody knows that."

"She isn't going to die," I repeated. "Have a little faith."

Batavia shivered. "I need my brother."

"I know," I said, stroking her hair and closing my eyes. "I know..."

Batavia leaned into my chest and drew a shaky breath. "I don't want to do this anymore."

"Bixby would NOT want you to give up," I said. "So don't you dare do that, Batavia."

"I don't know what Bixby would want, he's dead!"

I pulled away from her and sighed.

"Bixby Hoganson," I said, "was one of the most dedicated people I have ever met. He would want you to study hard and graduate, Batavia."

She whimpered as tears began to flow out of her eyes.

Quidditch practice without Katie meant letting Demelza Robbins in as a full time Chaser. Now Dean Thomas trained with us as the new backup Chaser.

The actual Chaser drills went well, when it came to skill. It really wasn't an easy task trying to get Ginny and Dean away from each other but I managed to make the groups work out, on days when they just couldn't get their hands off of each other.

"Do they have to be so public?" Harry muttered in annoyance one practice.

"You're just jealous because Dean's snogging her and YOU'RE not," I noted. Harry turned beet red.

Meanwhile, Ron was struggling quite a bit as Keeper. He was struggling to stop Ginny and I's goals, and in a wild attempt to catch one of the Quaffles he punched Demelza in the face.

"Oh fuck," I said, flying down to Demelza, who had screamed and was catching the blood dribbling down her mouth.

"I'm sorry!" Ron called frantically. "I—"

"Panicked!" Ginny snapped. "You prat, look at the state of her!"

"This is going to hurt, Demelza," I said. "Episkey!"

She groaned as I fixed her swollen lip.

"You'll be fine," I said. I sighed and turned to Ginny. "Thank you for your input, but please don't call Ron a prat."

"Well you seemed too busy with Demelza to call him a prat and I thought someone should," Ginny said, making me snort and struggle to muffle my laughter.

Despite the fact that the practice sucked, I tried to lift everyone's spirits by asking everyone to do it for Katie, and for Bixby.

"I think," I said in the changing room, "that Katie would want us to stay positive and just keep working hard. And Bixby wouldn't want us to let a few bad runs get us down."

Ron groaned loudly.

"Have a comment, Ron?"

"Katie and Bixby would be ashamed of me," he said. "I suck ass at this."

I sighed.

"You're just lacking confidence again, is all," I said. "It'll be okay. You came through last year, and you'll come through this year."

"I'm the worst Keeper to ever attend Hogwarts," Ron groaned as he, Harry, and I headed upstairs.

"No you're not," I said. "You know who's the worst Keeper to ever attend Hogwarts? McLaggen."

"You really bloody hate him, don't you?" Ron asked.

"He is such an arse," I said.

We turned the corner and Ron let out astrangled gasping sound. "Oi!"

Ginny and Dean broke apart from their tight embrace. I noticed both Harry and Ron glared at them furiously.

"I don't want to find my own sister snogging people in public!" Ron said.

"Ron," I said right as Ginny crossed her arms. "She's a big girl, she can take care of herself."

"Beth's right!" Ginny said. "At any rate, it was a deserted corridor until YOU came butting in."

"Er...c'mon Ginny," Dean mumbled. "Let's go back to the common room..."

"You go!" Ginny said fiercely. "I want a word with my dear brother!" Dean left quickly, and I sensed he was eager to get away.

"Right," Ginny said, glaring so powerfully at Ron that if looks could kill, he'd be dead. "Let's get this straight once and for all. It's none of your business who I go out with or what I do with them, Ron—"

"Yes it is!" Ron said. "I'm your brother—"

"She's a big girl, Ron," I repeated. "There's a point where you have to let her do her own thing."

"Thank you!" Ginny cried. "See? I can handle myself—"

"I don't want people saying my sister's a—"

Ron then stopped.

"A what?" Ginny snarled, whipping her wand out. "A what, exactly?"

Harry jumped in front of Ron and I jumped in front of Ginny.

"He's not worth it!" I snapped.

"He doesn't mean anything!" Harry said quickly, apparently just as eager as I was to not witness a murder.

"Oh yes he does!" Ginny cried. "Just because he's never snogged anyone in his life, just because the best kiss he's ever had is from our Aunt Muriel—"

"Shut your mouth!" Ron bellowed.

"I won't!" Ginny retorted just as loudly. "I've seen you with Phlegm, hoping she'll kiss you on the cheek every time you see her, it's pathetic! If you went out and got a bit of snogging done yourself, you wouldn't mind so much that everyone else does it!"

Ron took his wand out too, and I extended my arms as far as they went to shield Ginny.

"Let me hex him, Beth!" Ginny growled.

"No!" I cried. "Ginny, you'll murder him, and then I'll have to be a witness in court and that's murder itself—"

"You— you don't know what you're talking about!" Ron fumed. "Just because I don't do it in public—"

Ginny gave a malicious shrieking laughter, making her sound like Bellatrix. I flinched.

"Been kissing Pigwidgeon, have you? Or have you got a picture of Auntie Muriel stashed under your pillow?" Ginny asked menacingly.

"You—"

Ron ducked under Harry and fired a curse, which barely didn't hit me thanks to Ginny pulling me out of the way. Harry pinned Ron up against the wall.

"Don't be stupid, Ron," he snarled, looking worried for both Ginny and I's safety.

"Harry snogged Cho!" Ginny cried. "Hermione snogged Viktor Krum! George and Beth have snogged! It's only you who acts like it's something disgusting, Ron, and that's because you've got about as much experience as a twelve year old!"

And with her eyes brimming with tears, Ginny stormed away. Harry let go of Ron, breathing heavily.

Scowling, Ron shook Harry completely off. "Do you think Hermione did snog Krum?"

"For the love of Merlin!" I cried. "WHY does it matter?"

"That's my sister—"

"Oh you know what, Ron?" I asked. "Just shut the bloody hell up. She's right!"

He gaped at me, not knowing what to say. I stood there, glaring at him, my arms crossed.

"I worry, is that so bad?" Ron said furiously.

"Don't be such an arse about it!"

"Of course you're defending her," Ron snapped. "You've been getting extra cozy with my brother for the past year now."

There was dead silence.

Ron suddenly realized what he'd said and clapped a hand over his mouth.

Harry looked at me, and his jaw tightened. "Please... please don't tell me he means what I think he means."

"I-I meant they snog more because of the promise ring!" Ron spluttered, looking very guilty. "Harry, mate—"

"Ron, please go away," Harry said in a dangerous voice.

Ron looked at me and I looked away. He trudged down the corridor.

"I made my choices," I said in a shaky voice. "I was ready. He didn't force me into anything. I wanted to. And we're careful, Harry—"

"Beth you can't be this stupid!" Harry yelled. "You— you know you shouldn't and you did—"

"I'm of age!" I snapped. "My body, my choice— you don't regulate that! Until you have felt my physical pain and understood everything I have felt, you don't get to dictate what I do!"

"You— I—" Harry was at a loss for words.

He stared at me in silence for a moment.

"I'm just disappointed that you couldn't wait," he said. "I can't believe that you, who always insists you don't want to be like our mum, are making the same mistakes."

"My body, my choice," I said fiercely.

"It was a bad choice," Harry said coldly. "I-I'm just so annoyed with you I don't even have the will to yell at you. Does— does Uncle Remus know? Or have you two been sneaking around—"

"Yeah, he knew, and Sirius knew!" I hissed. "They knew right after— but this is none of your business!"

Harry suddenly seemed to piece things together.

"You two sneaking away at St Mungos," he said. "Uncle Remus being mad at you for a long time. Sirius having secret conversations with you in the hall. You yelling at Uncle Remus that he wasn't there when you needed him and that he hadn't forgiven you for a mistake..."

"Harry—"

"Were you pregnant?"

"No, I wasn't pregnant!" I said, feeling my cheeks burn. "J-Just a scare—"

"I'm going to fucking kill George!" Harry spat, storming down the hall.

"Harry stop!" I screamed, catching his shoulder. "It wasn't his fault, please—"

Harry shook me off. "You— you hid this from me for almost a year."

"I wasn't just going to trot up to you and say, 'guess who lost it today, Harry? Me!' Are you kidding me?" I cried.

Harry's face twitched. "Do Mr and Mrs Weasley know?"

"I-I don't think so—"

"If you want me not to beat George to a pulp at Christmas, you will tell them," he snapped. "Beth... I can't even look at you right now."

"You're being so dramatic!" I shrieked. "It isn't that big of a deal—"

"I DON'T WANT HIM TO KNOCK YOU UP—"

"WE'RE CAREFUL, HARRY—"

"TELL THEM OR I WILL—"

"I'LL TELL THEM BUT STOP BITCHING ABOUT IT—"

"Is... there a problem here?"

I whirled around to see Warrington, and I sighed loudly.

"No," Harry spat as he sprinted down the corridor, still cursing.

Warrington looked at me and I sighed.

"How much did you hear?"

"Everything."

I looked down.

"He's overreacting a bit," Warrington said. "I mean honestly if he isn't feeling frisky for the girl he fancies he's abnormal— it's pretty fricking natural. You were of age, you had a scare but it was okay and now you said you're being careful."

"He's such an ass," I said, leaning against the wall and sliding down to take a seat. My eyes were watering.

"You're his sister," Warrington said, coming over. "It's a brother's instinct to be overprotective. Same with Weasley."

"They're being TOO dramatic—"

"Beth come on, you have to know why."

"What do you mean?"

Warrington sighed. "It's no secret that some girls get hurt. Hurt badly. Weasley is worried because Weaslette is getting out there and the fact she's being public about it means people notice and that means a guy can try and take advantage of her. I mean think about it, if she was really private about her relationships, she would be more respected. Not going to lie, her putting herself out there makes asshole guys get evil ideas because they think she has no shame, no morals, and is up for anything. Unfortunately that's their mentalities. And Harry well, he's still warming up to the fact that Weasley— George that is— is really set for marrying you. You told me how Harry said George asked him for permission. He's just learning to accept the fact that he's going to lose you, just a bit. And what's more, knowing George already banged you annoys him because George asking for permission to marry you means nothing if he didn't respect waiting til marriage for that sort of thing. Makes him look like he really has no respect."

"This may be the greatest enlightenment since... THE Enlightenment," I murmured. He had a really good point.

Warrington shrugged. "I have two sisters, one graduated two years ago, the other is in third year. You learn a lot from the brother perspective. It's annoying some blokes are bastards. I would protect my sisters no matter what and that's how Harry feels."

I looked at him and offered him a half smile. "Thanks."

"You tell anyone I said that soft shit and I'll kick your ass," he said immediately, making me laugh as he turned red.

"You really are so much smarter and nicer than you act," I said. "You tried so hard to fit in with the Slytherin norm you didn't let everyone see that you... can be a really wonderful person when you're not making jokes about getting in someone's pants."

He laughed loudly. "Some things never change. You're cool too, Potter. One might think you look like you could kill someone and will actually kill someone, but in reality you're a cinnamon roll."

"I have killed someone, Warrington."

"Ah shit that's right... but you're still cool, Potter."

I looked at him and smiled. "You're a good friend."

"We're friends?" Warrington asked, blushing.

"Yeah."

"That makes me happy."

"Good."

__________

Harry and I didn't speak much for the following month and a half unless it was for Quidditch practice, which was going awful leading up to the first match of the season near the end of November.

The morning of the game, Ron was absolutely confident we were going to lose, and I suppose Harry felt the same.

I sat near Harry, Ron, and Hermione the morning of the game since Batavia had taken her breakfast upstairs, not feeling up for watching a match.

Ron was moping the entire time.

"Cheer up, Ron!" Lavender called, earning silence back. "I know you'll be brilliant."

There was a mischievous glint in Harry's eyes. What was he planning?

He suddenly spoke up. "Tea, Ron? Coffee? Pumpkin juice?"

"Anything," Ron groaned. I saw Harry take out a tiny bottle, leave it corked, and pretend to pour it into one of the drinks.

He handed the pumpkin juice to Ron.

What was going on?

"Don't drink that, Ron!" Hermione cried in disbelief.

She must not have seen the cork had never been undone.

"Why not?" Ron asked.

Hermione stared at Harry as though she planned to slap him. "You put something in his drink?"

"What?" Harry asked innocently.

"I saw you!" Hermione cried. "Beth— you saw that too, right?"

"I saw a bottle," I said. "What... what was it?"

"Harry won a bottle of Felix Felicis from Slughorn!" Hermione hissed. "Harry just tipped it into Ron's drink! Ron, I warn you, don't drink it!"

Ron scowled, and took an enormous gulp of pumpkin juice. "Stop bossing me around, Hermione."

Hermione bent down low over the table to whisper to Harry. "You should be expelled for doing something like that! I'd never have believed it of you!"

"Confunded anyone lately?" Harry muttered back.

So it was Hermione.

She growled and stormed out of the Great Hall.

I looked strangely at Harry.

"I'm sorry, okay?" I said abruptly, making him roll his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"I guess I'm sorry too, for overreacting," he said as Ron got up and trudged away. "Er... you did see I didn't actually put anything in his drink, right?"

"Of course," I said. "Good strategy..."

Harry smirked.

"Conditions look ideal!" Ginny said once we were in the changing room. "And guess what? Slytherin Chaser Vaisey took a Bludger to the head yesterday during practice, and he's too sore to play! And even better than that, Malfoy's gone off sick too!"

Draco wasn't playing?

"Even better!" Harry said pleasantly. "Who's his substitute?"

"Harper," Ginny said. "He's in my year and he's an idiot."

Harry turned to Ron, who seemed delighted.

"Lucky, I call it," Ron said. "And Vaisley off too, he's their best scorer, I didn't fancy..."

Then he stared at Harry and.

"My pumpkin juice," Ron said quietly. "You didn't..."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "We'll be starting in about five minutes, you'd both better get your boots on."

Grinning madly, I slipped my boots on. Harry was a bit of a genius. Ron looked at himself in the mirror and puffed out his chest, clearly not caring whether it was true or not— he felt he was the luckiest person in the world.

We walked out onto the field, and the crowd cheered as Gryffindor made their appearance. I led everyone out and cheers rang in the stadium. The Slytherins in the stands made rude hand gestures as always, but I suppose they need to keep their act up somehow.

Warrington led the Slytherin team out on the other end. When we met in the middle, he smirked.

"How about a bet, friend?" He said, emphasizing 'friend.' "Loser buys winner butterbeer."

"Get ready to buy me butterbeer, Cassius," I said sweetly.

"Not a chance, Beth."

The Slytherin team and even my own teammates looked at us strangely.

"Captains, shake hands," Madam Hooch said.

I shook Warrington's hand firmly and he winked. "Mount your brooms. On the whistle... three... two... one..."

The whistle blew, and I shot upward, catching the Quaffle immediately and diving down below the other Chasers to head to the goal.

"Well there they go, and I think we're all surprised to see the team that Potter's put together this year," Zacharias Smith said in a drawling voice worthy of Snape. Great, now he was going to insult me. "Many thought, given Ron Weasley's poor performance as Keeper last year, that he might be off the team, but of course, he's the brother of the Captain's boyfriend... oh look, she's scored."

The Gryffindor section cheered as the Quaffle I threw made it into the hoop.

I blew a raspberry at Warrington, who rolled his eyes.

"And now here comes Slytherin's first attempt on goal. It's Urquhart streaking down the pitch—"

I flew as close to Urquhart as possible, trying to block him, but he passed it to Captain Warrington, who a passed it back to him, who made the shot.

"—Weasley saves it, well, he's bound to get lucky sometimes, I suppose..."

"Good save, Ron!" I called, waving at him as I passed the Quaffle to Demelza.

In the next half hour, Ginny scored two goals, Demelza one, and I two more. We were leading sixty to zero. Ron had been making some crazy saves, and I couldn't help but feel proud of him.

"Of course, Coote isn't really the usual build for a Beater," Zacharias said, making me shout at Coote to throw a Bludger at him.

Coote felt obliged to do so because I was his Captain after all. But instead Coote hit it to Harper, which made impact with Harper's thigh. Not too damaging.

The Gryffindors began to sing a chorus of "Weasley Is Our King" which got Ron so confident he even went as far to conduct it from where he was flying.

"And I think Harper of Slytherin's seen the Snitch! Yes, he's certainly seen something Potter hasn't!"

I looked down to see Harry diving forward to where Harper was. I made one last attempt to score and did, making Gryffindor lead a hundred to zero. Then Harry caught the Snitch, which left the final score being two hundred and fifty to zero.

"YES!" I cried, raising my arms and clapping with the cheering Gryffindors. I was going to high five Ginny as she flew past but she kept going until she crashed into the commentator's podium, knocking Zacharias Smith over.

Harry flew over to me.

"Placebo effect," he said, nodding to a cheering Ron.

We both smiled.

"Can we please stop fighting about stupid stuff?" I said. "Please?"

"Oh fine," Harry sighed. "I can't change the fact George and you actually did it anyway... but how many times?"

"Harry..."

"Beth."

"Just three."

"Damn," he said, wincing. "I'm just hurt now that Ron knew and I didn't... yuck."

"Don't even ask me how HE found out because I have no idea..."

When Harry and I got back to the Common Room, we found a party in full swing.

Off to the side we found Hermione waiting for us, her arms crossed. Ron was beside her, looking irritated at having being pulled out of the party.

"You really shouldn't have done it," Hermione spat. "That was illegal."

"Harry didn't do anything," I said.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Hermione," Harry said.

"You spiked Ron's juice with Felix Felicis!" Hermione cried angrily. "That's why he saved everything!"

"No I didn't," Harry said with a grin, pulling out the full vial. "I wanted Ron to think I'd done it, so I faked it when I knew you were looking. Beth caught on, but you helped make him believe he was lucky. Ron, you did that all yourself."

I beamed, seeing Hermione sighed loudly.

"There really wasn't anything in my pumpkin juice?" Ron asked in disbelief. "But the weather... Vaisley... Malfoy not playing..."

He then turned to Hermione.

"You said I only saved everything because he added Felix Felicis to my drink," Ron said scathingly. "See? I can save goals without help, Hermione!"

"I never said you couldn't!" Hermione cried desperately. "Ron— you thought you'd been given it too!"

But Ron was no longer listening. He went back onto the dance floor and joined Lavender and Parvati. Next thing we knew, he and Lavender were eating each other's faces off.

"Filthy hypocrite!" Ginny snarled. "It looks like he's eating her face, doesn't it? But I suppose he's got to refine his technique somehow."

"He's an idiot," I said. "Don't listen to him Ginny."

Ginny waved her hand in the air and shook her head. "Not planning to. That's not going to end well anyway."

When I turned back around to say something to Hermione, I found she'd disappeared.

"Where did she go?" I asked Harry.

"Outside," he said. "I'm going to go look for her—"

A girl with dark, curly hair, and a smirk on her face suddenly appeared in front of us.

She didn't look at me at all, but rather fixated her eyes on Harry.

"Hello!" She said, biting her lip. "Got a date to Slughorn's Christmas Party yet?"

"I— what?" Harry said. He looked at me, his eyes screaming 'help.'

"About to go find her, actually," I said nonchalantly, dragging Harry away.

As soon as we were a safe distance away, I gaped at him.

"Okay, who IS that?" I asked.

"Romilda Vane," he groaned. "She's annoying... she's like... got a huge crush on me or something. Hermione thinks I should be careful around her."

"Oooh if Hermione says that then you should be," I said. "She was asking because Slughorn's hosting a Christmas Party... I don't remember if I told you. He made it so I couldn't worm out of it, so I suggest you go too. You should get a date quickly."

"I need a date?" He spluttered.

"Harry you're 16 you should try to get one," I said. "Maybe ask Ginny or some other friend."

Harry turned red at the mention of Ginny. "Er... okay. I'm going to find Hermione now."

"Alright. I'll be upstairs checking on Batavia," I said before jogging back and bounding up the stairs.

It felt nice to be in the familiar Gryffindor Common Room again.

I reached the room and threw open the door.

Batavia was sound asleep, a book open on her lap.

I smiled and closed the door slowly, and climbed into bed beside her, fixing her into a better sleeping position.

She mumbled and then woke up, rubbing her eyes. She smiled immediately when she saw me.

"You're doing okay?" I asked, stroking her hair.

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah... that was actually the first time I've slept without a nightmare in a really long time."

My chest ached as she said it, and I scooted closer to her, wrapping my arms around her.

"Can you sing me back to sleep?" She asked quietly.

"Sure," I said, softly beginning to sing a gentle melody Mrs Weasley used to sing to put the twins and I to sleep during a thunderstorm.

Batavia fell asleep almost instantly, still smiling.

I think this was the first time I'd seen her look truly happy, and truly okay since Bixby died.


	70. Chapter 70

Well, guess what.

Ron has apparently begun dating Lavender Brown overnight and I'm in utter shock.

First of all, who even is she? I mean I know she's in their year but frankly none of them have EVER been friends with her except maybe Hermione but even they aren't more than acquaintances.

Second of all— what the FUCK. Ron fancied Hermione a few months ago when I heard him tell Fred at the Burrow. If you fancy another girl, why on EARTH would you go and date another?

Third of all, Lavender is like Hermione's polar opposite. She's an airhead and is never serious when she needs to be and she's so girly it's quite nearly repulsive.

Just saying, Ron could have done much better.

It would seem Lavender was what truly split the little Golden Trio. Ron spends much more time with Lavender now and Hermione refuses to speak to him so she and Harry have to hang out individually.

Harry's annoyed of course because when he has something to tell them, he'll have to say it twice and without the usual input he receives from both at once.

He's definitely not liking it.

Of course this didn't mean any of us saw Hermione too often either. She'd purposely been avoiding people all the time, and we rarely saw her in the library. Batavia reckons she's so jealous she's driving herself mad.

We confronted her about it just as a check in.

"He's at perfect liberty to kiss whoever he wants," Hermione hissed, one of the days Batavia and I managed to find her in the library. "I really couldn't care less."

She cared, obviously, but she didn't want to say anything about it.

"Hermione," I said gently. "If you're angry you have a right to be. It's aggravating he's not only letting a girl come between him and his best friends, but he's also just letting Lavender treat you poorly."

Hermione just hissed and sat down at a table, so naturally Batavia and I sat with her.

"I fancy him," Hermione blurted out.

"Oh we been knew," Batavia snickered lightly.

Hermione turned red. "It— I thought for a minute.. maybe he fancied me too."

"He's oblivious as fuck, are you kidding?" I asked. "All the Weasley boys are— Bill didn't know Fleur fancied him for YEARS. George and I well, you know THAT story. Fred might be the only normal one... you see, Weasley boys aren't the MOST observant blokes."

Hermione laughed lightly then looked up, slightly alarmed.

"Harry's coming, can we—?"

We pretended to work on homework.

"Wow," Harry said when he sat down. "Beth finally has time to sit in the library like a normal person."

I smiled cheekily at him. "Warrington can deal with a few things on his own."

Batavia giggled. "So what is the deal with him? You guys are like best friends now!"

"Yeah I'd like to know too," Harry said. "How did you two manage to shake hands at that Quidditch game without death glares?"

"Warrington isn't so bad," I said simply. "None of the Slytherins are— once you get to know them. I think we've just let our previous experiences with the House stop us from connecting with them. They're not so bad."

"Warrington never struck me as someone who could be nice," Batavia said.

"Me neither at first, what with all his attempts to get in my pants."

"George beat him to it," Harry said.

I smacked him upside the head and Hermione choked on her water.

"Shut up," I said.

Batavia turned to Harry. "So Harry, who do YOU fancy?"

Harry turned red. "Nobody."

"You can trust me," Batavia said, smirking.

Jesus Christ was she trying to play matchmaker?

"Why do you ask?"

"Well Beth told me YOU need a date to Slughorn's Christmas Party and I'm like the mother hen of Gryffindor Tower— when I'm not crying."

I was glad she felt she could sort of joke now.

"Mother hen?" Harry asked.

"Oh come on Harry the point is I can help you get a date so those girls will stop trying to poison you!" She said.

"What girls are trying to poison me?" Harry asked blankly.

"That brings up a good point," Hermione said. "Harry, you need to be really careful."

"For the last time, Hermione," he said, "I'm not giving back this book. I've learned more from the Half Blood prince than I have from Snape or Slughorn—"

"This isn't about the book!" Hermione said. "Earlier, I was in the girls bathroom and heard Romilda Vane trying to decide how to slip you a love potion with her friends. They all want to be your dates to Slughorn's party, and all seem to have bought Fred and George's love potions, which I'm afraid to say, probably work."

"Exactly," Batavia chirped. "Be very careful."

"How did the potions make it past security?" Harry spluttered. "And Beth, can't you confiscate them?"

I looked at Hermione.

"The thing is they don't just carry them around, so Beth couldn't confiscate anything physical," Hermione said. "And plus— Fred and George send them disguised as perfumes and cough potions. It's part of their Owl order service."

"How do you know that?" I asked, absolutely bewildered.

"It was on the back of the bottles they showed us during the summer," Hermione said. "Fred showed Ginny and I specifically. I think I understand why they didn't tell you, Beth..."

"Yeah," I scoffed, shaking my head. "Damn it they made my job so much harder... Harry please just find a girl already, make a public service announcement that you're going with her and then let that be that."

Harry nodded. Then he gasped.

"What?" Batavia asked.

"Filch is being fooled, isn't he?" Harry asked. "By those girls with the potions? So maybe Malfoy—"

"Not with Malfoy again!" Hermione cried. My chest tightened. "Harry, the Secrecy Sensors they use detect jinxes, curses, and concealment charms! To find dark magic in dark objects! They'd have picked up a powerful curse like the one on the necklace in seconds. But if it was in the wrong bottle it wouldn't register. Love potions aren't dark or dangerous."

"Technically they are," I said.

"But either way," Harry continued. "Filch isn't even a wizard he wouldn't be able to tell. He could be fooled—"

"Can't you just leave Malfoy out of it—"

"Both of you, quit," I said, noticing Batavia had been watching them back and forth like a tennis match. We have more pressing matters." I turned to my brother. "When Hermione started talking you mentioned a book."

Harry turned red.

"Remember how he didn't need your old Potions book because he wasn't taking the class?" Hermione cut in. "Well McGonagall switched him and Ron into the class because Slughorn was a more lenient teacher in terms of OWL grades. They both got secondhand copies until they could order new ones except Harry kept the secondhand copy and put the new one's cover on it because the secondhand one had scribbles in the margins that have made him Slughorn's new favorite. He's as good at Potions as you now."

"Harry come on," I said. "Remember Riddle's diary? Haven't we learned not to trust strange books?"

"There's nothing wrong with this one, Beth!" He cried. "The bloke that wrote in it— a so called Half Blood Prince— is a potions wizard!"

"But it's cheating!" Hermione said indignantly. "You won the Felix Felicis because of that stupid book, Harry—"

"Let me see the book," I said. "NOW."

Harry cursed and took the book out, slapping it into my hands.

I began to look through it.

"Fine," I said. "This guy is a genius— but are you completely stupid? You have Snape's bloody book."

"What?" Harry, Hermione, and Batavia said altogether.

"This is Snape's writing!" I cried. "Come on you two— Snape's been grading your papers and writing on a chalkboard for you six years now and you didn't know?"

"Why would I memorize how Snape writes?" Harry asked. "He hates me!"

"That means Snape came up with those random spells written on some pages," Hermione hissed. "Levicorpus? Liberacorpus? Those aren't in any textbook."

"They are," I said. "Seventh year textbooks. They're considered to stem from Dark Arts, so they don't teach it to you until now."

Hermione glared at Harry.

"I'm not going to stop using the book," Harry hissed. "Stop trying."

"The library is now closing!" Madam Pince screeched from her desk.

"Suit yourself," I mumbled to Harry. "Hopefully that book doesn't prove to be evil. I'll see you guys around."

Batavia waved as I made my way out into the hall to my Common Room.

I found Warrington inside, passed out on the couch.

He woke up almost as soon as I closed the door, and rubbed his eyes.

"No duty tonight, you can go back to sleep," I chirped before taking out my Charms homework and plopping onto the armchair beside him.

"Well," he said. "You're here now so there isn't a point to sleeping."

"Resting? That's the point...?"

"The thing is I was sleeping cause I was bored," he said. "You're fun. No more boredness."

"Boredom, you mean."

"That sounds weird. Like a city in Germany or something."

I laughed and leaned back into the armchair. "Apparently the girls in fifth year keep trying to slip my brother love potions so he'll take them to Slughorn's party."

"Itty bitty Harry Potter is really getting the ladies now," Warrington said, smirking. "Who IS he going to go with, Granger?"

"Nah she told Batavia and I earlier she has a malicious plan to invite McLaggen to make Ron jealous because he went for Lavender even though he fancied Hermione except Hermione fancied him back but now she's so mad she went for McLaggen of all people—"

"You said that in one breath," Warrington marveled, clapping lightly. "God I feel like a shrink, do you always rant like this?"

"Yes. You're my new Batavia, get used to it."

"So now I have to be your girlfriend because your girlfriend is piecing herself back together and is in another Common Room?" Warrington asked.

"Precisely."

He laughed. "Hey are she and Oliver Wood still a thing?"

"Oh yeah," I said. "He told me in a letter he'll be proposing to her this summer."

"Dang, that soon?"

"They've been together what— six years now?" I asked. "I suppose it isn't soon to them."

"Wait they started dating when we were in second year right? Wasn't Wood like a fifth year?"

"Yep."

"So their relationship was illegal for awhile."

"As was mine and George's for a couple months," I said.

"You girls really are into older guys, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "They just so happen to be older than us."

Warrington smirked and winked. "Nothing wrong with that. Younger girls are bomb."

"You're so weird."

"Am I wrong?"

"I mean they ARE, don't get me wrong. But like we don't intend to go for people older it just happens."

Warrington stared at me strangely.

"Is it because I said younger girls are bomb?" I asked. "I can say girls are bomb—"

"I have to tell you something," Warrington said suddenly. "Because you said that."

"Okay," I said. "What— what is it?"

"I like girls," he said. "But I also like guys."

"Okay, and?" I asked, looking indifferent.

He raised his eyebrows. "'Okay, and?' You— that's it?"

"Yeah there isn't anything wrong with it," I said blankly. "I don't care who you like as long as you're happy, you know."

He turned red. "Okay..."

"Why, did you want me to say something else?" I asked, slightly confused.

"No," he said. "You were just so... calm. It was unexpected."

"Because I don't see anything wrong with it. Did you think I would hate you or something?"

"No," Warrington said. "It's just... you're the first person I've told."

"Oh," I said, finally understanding where his shock was coming from. "C'mon Cash, you know I'm not going to judge you. You do you. Like I said, as long as you're happy."

He blushed then smiled wide. "Thank you."

"Of course," I said, smiling back.

I had never felt so trusted.

I suddenly had an idea.

"Cash," I said, looking back up.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Do you want to go to Slughorn's Christmas Party with me?"

He turned red, and his smile grew. "Yeah... you mean it?"

"Duh," I said. "Why else would I ask you?"

"I thought you'd ask Hoganson or something."

"Batavia's leaving the day of the party to spend Christmas at Oliver's," I said. "And I want you to come with me. We are friends, after all."

"Your brother won't mind?"

"Nah I told him you're cool," I said. "Don't worry. It'll be fun."

He hadn't stopped smiling. "Yes. Okay. I'll come with you."

"Good," I said happily, seeing how excited he looked.

Even Slytherins could be adorable as heck when they wanted to be.

_________

Hermione seemed to have some sort of wicked plan in mind because on the night of the party, she insisted on going downstairs to the Common Room before getting ready.

I had first and foremost agreed to help her do her hair, so I'd gone to the Gryffindor Tower to help her.

However, rather than us going up to Batavia's room to use her curling iron after collecting Hermione's from her dorm, she asked me to accompany her downstairs.

"What are you going to gain from going downstairs?" I asked as we headed downstairs. "There isn't anyone of interest down there."

"On the contrary," Hermione said, "I think you'll find someone of interest."

"Is this about Ron again?" I groaned.

"Beth you've gotta be like my wing woman right now, please, just go along with it," she said as we scurried down to where Parvati, Lavender, Ron, and Harry were gathered, talking.

"Oh hi, Hermione and Beth!" Parvati called from beside Lavender, whose arm was wrapped around Ron.

"Hi Parvati!" Hermione said. "Are you going to Slughorn's party tonight? Beth's doing my hair and I was wondering if you might need yours done."

Little sneak, she planned this out very well.

"No invite," Parvati said sadly. "I'd rather have liked to go.... you're going though, right? Both of you?"

"Yep," I said.

"Ooh Beth, with who?" Parvati asked curiously.

"Oh just Warrington," I said simply.

Parvati's eyes became wide as saucers.

"Cassius Warrington?" She asked. "The Head Boy?"

"Yep," I said. "Just casually."

"They're friends," Harry piped up. "He seems okay."

"He's tolerable," I said, smiling as Parvati nodded, still looking bewildered.

"I see," Parvati said. "And you, Hermione?"

"I'm meeting Cormac at eight, and we're—"

Words could not describe what the bloody hell the sound Ron made was. Harry later said it sounded to him like a plunger being withdrawn from a blocked sink.

"—we're going up to the party together," Hermione finished, making me grin internally.

"Cormac?" Parvati asked. "Cormac McLaggen, you mean?"

To be honest, it annoyed me that she chose him after I'd told her what he did to me, but if this was her plan... I doubted she'd change it with my input.

"That's right," Hermione said with an annoying hint of sweetness. "The one who almost became Gryffindor Keeper."

"Are you going out with him, then?" Parvati asked. I didn't think her eyes could get any bigger.

"Yes, didn't you know?" Hermione asked with a giggle worthy of Umbridge.

"No!" Parvati said, clearly eager to hear more gossip. "Oh I never know who's going out with who these days.... but my my, you like your Quidditch players, don't you, Hermione? First Krum, then McLaggen."

"I like really good Quidditch players," Hermione clarified, making me want to collapse on the floor and screech because of how much she'd gone out of her way to say such a thing.

McLaggen sucked in my opinion but speaking neutrally he wasn't half bad. Maybe if he took the broom out of his arse...

"Well see you!" Hermione said. "Come on, Beth, got to go get ready for the party..."

She grabbed by hand and led me upstairs.

The instant we arrived in Batavia's empty dorm, she wheezed and slapped the wall.

"The look on his face was priceless!" She gasped, throwing herself onto Batavia's bed and laughing like a madwoman.

"McLaggen will make you want to kill yourself within the first five minutes," I said as I rummaged in Batavia's drawer for the curling iron she promised to leave behind for us. She was a genius, bringing a Muggle item and casting a spell to power it. We learned that wizard hair products weren't the absolute best or easiest to use.

"I know," she sighed. "And after what he did to you I'm a little scared but also really wanted to make Ron jealous..."

"The lengths you go to," I sighed. "Just please please be careful. Don't hesitate to hex him."

"I'll be careful, don't worry," she said. "Also I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you this but Ginny told me— George is coming to the party."

"Wait what?" I spluttered.

"Erm... it may have been meant as a surprise if you didn't know..."

"How did he even manage to get an invitation?"

"Ginny told Slughorn he was your boyfriend and Slughorn said it was fine almost immediately. As always Beth, the Potion teacher favors you," she said. "Funny cause he doesn't even have you as a student."

I laughed. "Well George will get to meet Cash—"

"Cash?" Hermione giggled.

"Cash is short for Cassius— I'm sorry but saying Cassius makes me want to laugh and I don't want to hurt Warrington's feelings you know."

"Is he really that good? Warrington?" Hermione asked.

"He truly is wonderful," I said, smiling. "He reminds me so much of Cedric."

"Really?" Hermione asked. "How?"

"I didn't want to be friends with him at first but now I trust him," I said. "And the mannerisms too... Cedric always used to bite the end of his quill when he was talking Quidditch strategy while doing homework—"

"You discussed Quidditch strategy with Cedric AND Warrington?" Hermione spluttered.

"Not GRYFFINDOR Quidditch strategy, more like professional Quidditch strategies. Criticizing how the Chudley Cannons or Tornadoes format their plays and such."

"Wow," Hermione said. "Warrington must really be a nice person then."

"He is," I said, laughing lightly. "Now stop talking and let me curl your hair because now I have to get extra ready."

"For George?" Hermione asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Obviously," I said, laughing and blushing slightly.

Once we'd both gotten ready, I scurried over to my dorm to pick up Warrington, who was wearing his Slytherin jacket and pants.

"Fancy," I joked, which made him shrug.

"You didn't say it was formal," he said, looking me up and down. "Goddamn, Beth, you're dressed like you're going to see your man."

"I am," I said. "He's coming. Found out about an hour and a half ago."

Warrington whistled. "I can stay, you know, so he doesn't see you with another guy."

My chest tightened, remembering the last time George had gotten jealous.

"No, come," I insisted. "He can't bitch about it, we're only coming as friends. If he dares to complain I'm not going to... yeah."

Warrington laughed. "Lead the way, Mrs Weasley."

"Shut up."

We walked side by side to Slughorn's office. When we entered we found a party already in full swing.

"Beth, my dear!" Slughorn called as we walked in. "Mr Warrington, good to see you! Come in, come in, so many people I'd like you to meet!"

I awkwardly shrugged to Warrington as Slughorn practically yanked us forward.

I didn't see George anywhere.

"Beth, Cassius, I'd like you to meet Eldred Worple, an old student of mine, author of Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires— and of course, his friend Sanguini."

Sanguini was clearly a vampire. He licked his lips and shook by hand enthusiastically, turning to Cassius. "Your girlfriend has a very pretty neck..."

"She's not my girlfriend," Warrington said bluntly. "She's like my sister."

Sanguini smiled and licked his lips again. "Your SISTER has a very pretty neck."

"Now now, Sanguini!" Worple said. "Let her be. Elizabeth Potter, I am simply delighted! I was saying to Professor Slughorn the other day, 'Where is the biography of Elizabeth Potter for which we have all been waiting?"

"You want a biography?" I asked abruptly, wincing a bit.

"Just as modest as Horace described!" Worple said happily. "I would be delighted to write the biography myself, people are craving to know so much more about you! If you grant me a few interviews, say in four or five hour sessions, why, we could have the book finished within months. And all with very little effort on your part, I assure you— Sanguini, get away from her!"

I stepped back and held my hand up as Sanguini leaned forward, a mad glint in his eyes, saliva dripping from his lips.

"Let her be, I say!" Worple said. "Here, have a pastry. Now, my dear girl, the gold you could make, you have no idea..."

"I don't want gold," I said quickly. "And I'm sorry Mr Worple but I'm not interested in letting people know my entire life story."

"Consider it in the future then, my dear," Worple sighed.

I smiled wryly then grabbed Warrington's arm and yanked him away.

"Holy fuck," I murmured. "I always thought it would be cool to meet a vampire but that bloke scared me."

"Really doesn't help you're showing off your entire collarbone and neck," Warrington snickered.

"Shut up, Cash."

I looked around and spotted Hermione.

"Hermione!" I called, waving my hand over the crowd to beckon her over. She ran to us.

"There you are, thank goodness!" Hermione cried. She looked at Warrington awkwardly. "Um hi— I'm Hermione Granger."

"I know," he said, shaking her hand. "Cassius Warrington. Having a fun time with that bastard?"

"What?" Hermione spluttered.

"He hates McLaggen too, remember?" I said with fake sweetness. "You look absolutely distressed, Hermione."

"I've just escaped— I mean left Cormac under the mistletoe," Hermione said.

"Ew," Warrington said.

"Yuck," I agreed. "Well you dug your own here..."

"Oh I know!" She moaned. "I considered Zacharias Smith too but then settled on McLaggen because I thought it'd make Ron more jealous."

"Oh Hermione," I sighed.

"I'm starting to wish I'd chosen him!" She cried. "McLaggen makes Grawp look like a gentleman."

I giggled. "Didn't think McLaggen could ever sound like a worse person. Guess I was wrong. Just avoid him. There's Harry with... Luna?"

"Yeah he asked her," she said.

"So," I said, crossing my arms. "Now the real question, since Ron is such a pressing topic, are you planning to tell him that you interfered at Keeper tryouts?"

"Do you really think I'd stoop that low?" Hermione asked.

"Hermione, you brought McLaggen as your date," I said. "You asked him out!"

"There's a difference," she insisted. "I've got no plans to tell Ron anything about what might or might not have happened at Keeper tryouts."

"Good," I said. "Because he'll just fall apart again and we'll lose the next match."

"Quidditch!" Hermione snapped. "Is that all you people care about? Cormac hasn't asked me one single question about myself, no, I've just been treated to 'A Hundred Great Saves Made by Cormac McLaggen' nonstop since we arrived!"

"Hermione," I groaned. "You KNEW McLaggen was a self absorbed prick from the start and you still picked him. You KNEW McLaggen is aggressive and has tried to put himself onto me and you still picked him. This is your fault!"

She covered her face. She then looked up and her eyes widened. "Here he comes!"

Hermione darted away so quickly it was almost like she'd Disapparated.

"Seen Hermione?" McLaggen asked, coming into our space.

"No," I said.

Warrington glared at McLaggen, who watched us both.

"Cheating on Weasley with him?" McLaggen asked with a sneer.

"Cash and I happen to be friends," I hissed.

"So you'll befriend a Slytherin and not me," McLaggen said. "Pathetic."

"This Slytherin doesn't manhandle women and act like an arrogant prat with a broom stuck halfway up his arse," I snapped.

McLaggen rolled his eyes and stormed away, making Warrington blush.

"Thanks," he said.

"Don't mention it," I said.

Warrington and I kept looking for George but couldn't find him, and ended up with Slughorn again, who seemed much happier.

"Stop skulking and come join us, Severus!" Slughorn said suddenly, seemingly dragging Snape toward us out of thin air. "I wanted to congratulate you, for having gotten to teach Elizabeth for six years. I wish I had the chance."

Snape smiled wryly.

"Miss Potter is quite the exceptional student," Snape drawled.

"And so is Harry!" Slughorn said. "He's a natural! I bet they both took after their mother."

Well, Harry is now apparently only good because he's using Snape's old book.

Snape's lip twitched.

"I never had the impression that I managed to teach Mr Potter anything at all," Snape said.

"Then it's natural ability!" Slughorn said. "You should have seen what he gave me first lesson, a perfect Draught of Living Death on the first attempt, I don't think even you, Severus—"

"Really?" Snape asked curiously. He glared at Harry, who was standing a bit aways from us.

The door burst open and Filch came in, hauling Draco by the ear. Harry looked at me uncertainly from where he was and I shrugged.

"Professor Slughorn," Filch said, "I discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. Claims he was invited to your party and delayed in setting out. Did you issue him an invitation?

"All right, I wasn't invited!" Draco spat, freeing himself of Filch's grasp. "I was trying to gate crash, happy?"

"No I'm not!" Filch wheezed. "You're in trouble you are! Didn't the headmaster say that nighttime prowling's out, unless you've got permission, didn't he, eh?"

"No worries, Argus," Slughorn said calmly. "It's Christmas, and it isn't a crime to want to come to a party. Just this once we'll forget punishment. You may stay, Draco."

"Thank you, Professor," Draco said quickly. "Hey Warrington... Potter..."

I nodded to him and so his Warrington.

"He's friendly," Warrington noted.

"Mhm," I said as Snape asked to have a word with Draco outside.

"Now Severus, it's Christmas," Slughorn said.

"I would just like a quick word with him," Snape insisted.

Right after they left, I noticed Harry was gone.

"Jesus Christ," I hissed.

"Hey Beth," Warrington said. "Isn't that Weasley over there?"

I looked up and saw George and smiled.

"Yes!" I said. "Come on, let me introduce you!"

I dragged him over to where George was drinking firewhiskey.

"Look at you with your big boy drink," I said, making him look up and smirk.

"They think I'm 23 so please keep the lie up," he said, pulling me in for a firm kiss.

Yep. Tasted like firewhiskey.

When he pulled away he looked at Warrington. "You must be Warrington."

"Hi," Warrington said, shaking George's hand. "Nice to formally meet you."

"Likewise," George said. "Listen— thank you. Thank you for keeping her safe. It's hard for me to be over there not knowing what's going on here. She told me about the McLaggen thing and well, knowing you've got her back helps me be a little less worried."

I found myself smiling as Warrington blushed.

"Now if you don't mind," George said, snaking an arm around my waist, "I'm going to take advantage of the fact you guys have a private dorm."

"He's going to need it too!" I cried, smacking George's chest.

"I'll sleep in the Slytherin Common Room, don't worry," Warrington said with a smile. "Go have fun."

I turned red and George nodded. "You are a good lad, Warrington."

Warrington laughed as George trailed his hand down to rest at my hip and led me out of the party.

"So I got a very angry letter from Harry awhile back," he said. "Regarding us... being together."

"Oh bloody hell," I groaned. "George I'm so sorry.."

"He has a right to be mad," he said. "I should have been respectful about it all with... yeah."

"Asking for permission to marry me, you mean?"

George turned red. "Yes... Exactly. I should have pushed for us to wait out of respect but I didn't and I apologized profusely to him."

"I sense a but coming."

"But I don't plan on stopping," he said with a wink.  
________

When I woke up the following morning I found breakfast laid out for me on my nightstand.

I looked around and saw George was in the chair by the window, reading a book.

"Good morning," I said.

"Good morning love," he chirped, coming to peck my lips. "We leave today for the Burrow, you ready?"

"Yeah I'm all packed," I said, smiling.

George sat down next to me and pulled out a small box.

My heart skipped a beat.

"George no," I whispered.

"You don't even know what's in here," he laughed, handing me the box. It was quite a bit larger than a ring box.

I opened it and smiled, seeing a little golden bracelet with several emeralds on it. One emerald was larger than the others.

"Press it," George said.

I did, and an image appeared in front of us.

I took a sharp breath.

Projected in the air right before my eyes were a group of people that made my eyes well up with tears.

There was my father, who was smiling, his arm wrapped around my mother, who was waving.

Next to them stood Sirius, who shot me finger guns and a classy wink.

Next to him was Bixby, who stood arm in arm with Cedric. They were arm wrestling.

The image disappeared and I realized I was crying.

"How...?" I managed.

George wrapped his arms around me. "Took a lot of research to find the right people to get it done but they managed using a few pictures I gave them. I came up with the poses, hope you don't mind—"

I grabbed his face and kissed him, a sob escaping my lips.

"I love it," I said softly, pulling away. "And I love you."

George blushed and brushed a strand of hair out of my face. "I love you too, Beth."

I pulled him in for another kiss and this time, I didn't pull away.


	71. Chapter 71

"Wait, run that by me one more time."

Harry rubbed his eyes.

"I snuck out after Snape and Malfoy during the Christmas Party," Harry said. "I eavesdropped on their conversation. It seems Snape made an Unbreakable Vow with Malfoy's mother to protect him and initially Malfoy was letting Snape help or at least accepting his offer to help but now Malfoy wants Snape to back off."

I drew a deep breath.

Strange. That was the word for it.

If Draco had initially let Snape help and had asked him to find someone like me to have as a friend, why had he suddenly stopped accepting his help?

To me it didn't make sense. Not really.

Draco couldn't possibly do this alone. He couldn't. Someone— a Death Eater— would need to be constantly aiding him.

The only possible explanation is that Draco no longer trusted Snape and had turned to another Death Eater.

But why?

I was afraid. It could likely be connected to the scene Harry, Ron, and Hermione had witnessed at Borgin and Burkes during the summer.

The only problem was what that connection really meant.

Harry speaking brought me back to reality.

"CAN you break an Unbreakable Vow?" He asked.

Ron and I both shook our heads.

"It's in the name, Harry, mate," Ron said. "I don't think anyone knows how to break if it that's even possible. You die if you break it anyway. Fred and George tried to get me to make one when I was five."

I burst out laughing. "I remember that."

"If I remember correctly," Ron said, "you were stationed as the lookout for Dad. And I was holding hands with Fred and everything when Dad saw you looking suspicious and barged in."

"I was a horrible liar," I recalled.

"What did your dad do?" Harry asked.

Ron blew air out of his mouth. "Well. He went mental. Only time I've ever seen him as angry as Mum. The twins and Beth all got a pretty bad spanking. Fred reckons his left buttock has never been the same since."

"Well, passing over Fred's left buttock," I said. "How—"

"I beg your pardon?" Fred asked. "Is that Beth I hear discussing my buttocks?"

I turned and George held his chest.

"Do you fancy my brother?" He asked dramatically.

"Nah," I said. "We were recalling that spanking we got when we tried to make Ronniekins do an Unbreakable Vow."

"Oh yes my left buttock is still QUITE sore," Fred says. He winked at Harry. "I was prideful and confessed it was my idea. Dad got me good."

George and Fred both looked at us and cocked their heads.

"What?" I asked, stirring the pot of soup.

"Look at them, Fred!" George said, now looking only at the boys. "They're using knives and everything. Bless them."

"I'll be seventeen in two and a bit months time," Ron said. "And then I'll be able to do it by magic!"

"But meanwhile," Fred said, sitting at the table and elevating his feet onto it, "We can enjoy watching you demonstrate the correct use of a — whoopsie daisy!"

"You made me do that!" Ron snapped, covering his bloody finger. "You wait, when I'm seventeen—"

"I'm sure you'll dazzle us all with hitherto unsuspected magical skills," George said, unamused.

"And speaking of that," Fred said, "what is this we hear from Ginny about you and a young lady called... Lavender Brown."

"Mind your own business," Ron said flatly.

"What a snappy retort!" George said.

"I really don't know how you think of them," Fred said. "We wanted to know how it happened."

I gritted my teeth, fighting every urge to say Ron was just too stupid to admit he liked Hermione, so he went for Lavender.

"Did she have an accident or something?" George asked.

"How did she get such extensive brain damage?" Fred asked. "Careful now!"

Mrs Weasley walked in right as Ron threw a knife at Fred, which he turned into a paper airplane.

"Ronald Weasley!" She trilled. "Don't you ever let me see you throwing knives again!"

"I won't," Ron said. Then he added quietly so only I could hear, "let you see." I giggled.

"Fred and George, I'm sorry dears, but Remus arrives tonight so Bill will squeeze in with you two," Mrs Weasley said.

"Not a problem Mum," Fred chirped. "George can just squeeze in with Beth—"

"Not funny, Fred!" Mrs Weasley said, making George and I turn beet red. "Oh where was I? Er... ah yes... Then Harry and Ron will be in the attic, Fleur can share with Beth and Ginny—"

"That'll make Ginny's Christmas," Fred muttered.

"At least everyone will be comfortable," Mrs Weasley said.

"George would be more comfortable with Beth," Fred said.

"Fred!" I snarled.

George tried to change the subject.

"Percy not showing his ugly face then?" He asked.

"No, he's busy, I expect, at the Ministry," Mrs Weasley said, a bit disappointed.

"Or he's just the world's biggest prat!" Fred mumbled as Mrs Weasley left. "One of the two. Well, let's get going then, George."

"Can you help us with these sprouts?" Ron pleaded to me. "You could just use your wand and then we'll be free too."

"No, I don't think she can do that," Fred said as George dragged me toward them, making Ron frown. "It's very character building stuff, learning to peel sprouts without magic, makes you appreciate how difficult it is to be a Muggle or a Squib."

"It's not your choice, it's Beth's!" Ron whined.

"Well we can decide for her," George said. "Because she shouldn't help someone who throws knives at people. It's encouraging foul behavior. Just a little hint."

"Well, can we at least have a hint now as to where you're going?" Ron asked. "Please?"

"Ah," Fred said. "We're off to the village. There's a very pretty girl working in the paper shop who thinks my card tricks are something marvelous, almost like real magic."

"What about Angelina?" Ron blurted out. I too was intrigued.

"She dumped me," Fred sighed, waving his hand in the air. "Said she wanted to focus on her Wizard Law Internship."

"Oh that's awful," I sighed, waving at Harry as George snaked his arm around my waist and led me out.

"Yeah," Fred sighed. "She was saying she just doesn't want to have distractions. Didn't seem too hurt about it. And she didn't even say if we might get back together— she just left."

"That's a bummer Freddie, I'm sorry," I said. "Want me to talk to her?"

"It's fine Beth," he said with a small smile. "Why don't you tell us what's been going on at Hogwarts?"

"Well," I said, leaning into George. "Slug Club is murder and I keep scheduling Quidditch practice on those days so that Ginny, Harry, and I don't have to go. And er— classes are good. I did good this term."

"Always proud of you," George said with a smile. "Now what about the stuff with Harry? You mentioned he's had meetings with Dumbledore?"

"He tells me things here and there," I said. "They're learning more about Voldemort's past. Like it'll be a key to defeating him."

"Why don't they include you?" Fred asked.

"I asked them not to," I said. "Dumbledore offered at the beginning... and I declined. I'm of no interest to Voldemort now. And I'm not connected to him with the prophecy either."

"You had enough of him for a lifetime?" George asked with a short laugh.

"Yeah," I said. "And I'm too busy. With doing rounds every night with Warrington and trying to discuss strategy with McGonagall... I don't know how Wood did it for four years."

"Well he was never Head Boy— that went to Percy," Fred said. "And Warrington? He a good bloke?"

"He's good," George said immediately. "Met him last night. He's... a good guy."

"All the Slytherins are secretly good," I said. "They just don't want to show it. It'd ruin their reputation and you know how that is..."

"I feel bad for them, honestly," George said. "Everyone automatically assumes they're evil."

"Most are," Fred cut in. "But I did once meet a guy... I think third year? He was really cool and pretty considerate. I suppose they've got hidden traits."

I smiled and looked up, seeing we'd reached the village.

"Well," Fred said, bowing to us. "I'm off to the paper shop. You two have fun."

George sighed as Fred left. "I think Angelina was a bit harsh."

"Tell me about it," I said. "Poor thing. He's secretly depressed."

George nodded. "I just never thought that would end, you know? He'd fancied her for years."

"Maybe it's not really over," I said, looking around at the little shops near the village. "Maybe it's just her needing time to settle into her career."

"Yeah true," George said. "Do you want to go see my apartment?"

"Oh?" I asked. "You and Fred aren't living together?"

"Nah he has his own place," George said. "Come on."

He extended his hand out to me and I took it.

We apparated to the Leaky Cauldron and from there entered Diagon Alley, where the only shop that was full was Fred and George's.

"It's so empty," I murmured as we walked through the partly deserted streets.

"I know," he said. "It's horrible, and I hate it. I wish it wasn't like this. I mean imagine being a parent and having to explain to your kid that it's dangerous to go to the place that was once so full of life? I mean this place is now dead."

I nodded slowly, smiling a bit at his mention of kids.

That conversation was not as awkward as before.

"I want three kids," George blurted out, stopping outside the shop entrance. "Two boys and a girl. The girl would be the youngest. I want to have a house by the ocean that's close enough to my Mum's for Sunday dinner and has a big field outside so we can teach them how to ride brooms and play Quidditch."

I breathed deeply and looked at him, my cheeks on fire.

"Okay," I said softly. "That sounds doable."

He smiled like an idiot and led me into the shop, where several kids squealed.

"Mr George Mr George!" A little girl about five said. "Do you have more of the spinning toys?"

"I do, Felicity," he said happily, looking around and going to a tall shelf. He pulled a little box off and handed it to the girl. "Be good and tell your daddy I said hi."

"I will," she said, now looking up at me with wide eyes. "Who's she? Is she the princess you talk about?"

I blushed when George nodded. "Yeah remember how I told you my princess was off in her castle learning how to be an Auror? This is her. Felicity, meet Beth. Beth, meet Felicity."

"Hi Felicity," I said, shaking the little girl's hand.

"Hi Mrs Weasley!" She said immediately, making my heart skip a beat. "She's just as pretty as you said Mr George."

"Yes she is, isn't she?" He asked, pulling me closer to him. "Now if you'll excuse us Felicity, I want to take my princess upstairs to see my apartment."

"Okay Mr George!" Felicity said. "Bye Beth!"

"Bye," I said, waving as George pulled me through a door. I giggled.

"Isn't she adorable?" George sighed. "She's the daughter of one of Charlie's best friends— a guy that worked with him in Romania. Cool dude, his name's Thatcher. She's sweet."

"You called me your princess?"

"I'll change it to queen soon, don't worry."

I grabbed his face and kissed him, making him laugh and scoop me up bridal style, carrying me upstairs.

Once we arrived at the door he set me down. I looked up and whistled.

"So you and Fred have separate apartments but they're right across from each other," I said.

"Yep," George said happily. "Come inside."

He opened the door and I smirked and nodded, seeing he had organized it very well.

"Who would have thought you'd be a decorator?" I asked. "This is really nice George."

"Why thank you," he said. "So here's the kitchen..."

"This is nicer than the Hogwarts kitchen," I murmured, seeing wooden seats around an island that had a regular counter and a stove. "Very Muggle oriented but I love it."

"Wait til you see the bathroom," he said. "It's so bloody nice it makes the Chamber of Secrets look stupid."

I laughed. "I assume that means that it's architecturally and visually nicer?"

"Naturally," he said, opening another door.

I whistled again. There were two marble sinks and a large shower with two shower heads on either side, and the floor was gorgeous tile.

"You really outdid yourself," I said. "This is so beautiful."

"Thank you," he said, bowing. "The designing took forever but... it paid off."

"Can you please design our future house?" I said. "Please? Cause this is gorgeous."

"You got it," he said, kissing my cheek. Then he went silent. "Beth I have a question."

"Yes?"

"You know how you mentioned that Harry told you about those things called horcruxes?" He asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "What about them?"

"Well in order to find them he'd have to go look for them, wouldn't he?" George asked.

"Probably.... what—"

"Please don't go," George blurted out. "He—he's going to want to go and I have a feeling Ron and Hermione will go with him but please... please don't go."

"George I don't even know if he'd want me along," I said. "This has almost nothing to do with me anymore— this thing with Voldemort is personal to him. He told me himself how thankful he was that I didn't want in on what he and Dumbledore were doing. I think he understands now how dangerous it is and as much as I'd like to help I know I'd be useless if he doesn't want me along. I'm no protection."

George nodded quickly. "Good... good... Beth I just don't want to lose you."

I put my hand on his shoulder and he grimaced, looking worried.

"George," I said gently. "If he needs me at any point I will go in a heartbeat. But for now I'm not tagging along. Dumbledore doesn't want me to be involved because I can die now and all of Voldemort's lieutenants are out for my blood after I killed two of their men. So only if he needs me, I will go."

"Then I'll go with you," he said. "I'll go with you at any point that they need you."

I smiled. "At least that'll be good for protecting Ron too— Mum will have a fit when he leaves."

"You're certain then— that they are already planning to leave and hunt them?" George murmured.

"It's like I can sense it is going to happen," I said. "We just need to be ready when it does."

George nodded and sighed. "But what— what about your Auror internship? Don't you start that this summer?"

"If it becomes unsafe to be there, I'll leave," I said. "Besides with a war brewing, it's probably more important I prepare with the Order than with the Ministry."

George drew a deep breath. "Okay... then that's the plan."

I nodded grimly. We both knew we had very tough times ahead of us.

"We need to alleviate the tension," he muttered. "Let me show you the bedroom."  
____________

"You've got to be joking."

I snickered, seeing Ron's gift from Lavender. A locket that said "my sweetheart."

"Classy," Harry said. "You should definitely wear it in front of Fred and George."

"They're going to love it," I chirped.

Ron shot me a nasty glare.

"If you tell them," Ron said, shoving the necklace under his pillow, "I—I—I'll..."

"Stutter at me?" Harry said with a grin, making me laugh.

"You know we won't say anything," I said. "I promise I won't tell George— don't worry Ron. I mean it."

Ron scowled and shook his head.

"How could she think I'd want this, though?" He asked.

"Well think back," Harry said. "Have you ever let it slip you'd like to go out in public with the words 'My Sweetheart' around my neck?"

I snorted.

"We don't actually talk much," Ron said. "Mostly snogging. Hey, is Hermione really going out with McLaggen?"

"I dunno," Harry said. "I don't think Slughorn's party went well for them."

I swear Ron looked happier hearing this.

"So what did George get you?" Ron asked, looking at me. "He'd been planning it for months."

I blushed and slipped up my sleeve to reveal the bracelet. I pressed the large emerald and the image appeared in front of us.

It was the same as before. My parents waving. Sirius doing finger guns. Cedric and Bixby thumb wrestling.

"Wow," Harry said softly. "That's..."

"Beautiful," I sighed as the image turned off. "I've gotten in the habit of pressing it every night before bed."

"See?" Ron said, pointing at the bracelet. "That gift makes sense because it's so heartfelt— it MEANS something— what the hell am I supposed to do with this necklace? My sweetheart..."

I sighed. "Ron, it means something to Lavender. I think the only reason it means nothing to you is because you don't actually fancy her."

Harry raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"I-I d-do like her!" Ron spluttered.

"Don't be stupid you just like being able to say you've snogged someone," I said. "Ron I KNOW you've been nuts for Hermione fo ages."

Harry smirked. Ron was at a loss for words.

"Erm," Harry said. "Maybe I should open this present from Kreacher..."

Ron blankly nodded.

"Reckon this is safe to open?" Harry asked quizzically.

"I mean the mail was probably searched by the Ministry," I said. "But that does look odd..."

Harry tore it open, and then yelled as several large maggots spilled out.

Ron seemed to snap out of his trance.

"Nice!" Ron said, laughing. "Very thoughtful of him."

"I'd rather have them than that necklace," Harry said, making Ron shut up and slip out of the room.

Christmas lunch downstairs was wonderful. Everyone was wearing their new sweaters except Fleur, who Mrs Weasley seemed to have not made one for.

"Kind of shady of Mum, isn't it?" Ginny snickered as Fleur frowned at the rest of us, observing the multi colored sweaters we were showing off.

"Well eventually your Mum will like her too," I said. "Then she can get her sweater."

Harry sat down on the other side of Ginny, waving for me to pass the gravy boat to pour over his food.

"Oh Harry," Ginny giggled, running her hand through his hair. "You've got a maggot in here..."

She pulled it out and tossed it to the floor. Harry blushed crimson while Fleur grimaced.

"'Ow 'orrible," she said, shuddering.

"Yes," I said, noticing Harry didn't seem to have stopped feeling Ginny's touch on his head.

Lovesick fool.

George turned to me and kicked my leg lightly under the table. I leaned in for him to whisper in my ear.

"Does he fancy her?"

"Mhm," I said, giggling as George let out a short laugh.

"Guess all Potters end up with Weasleys," he said, making me giggle again.

"Can someone pass me ze gravy?" Fleur piped up, making every eye in the room turn to her.

"Of course," Ron said eagerly. In an attempt to pass the gravy boat to her, he knocked it over. Bill simply waved his wand and returned the gravy to the boat. Fleur smiled and kissed Bill's cheek, making Ginny gag and Mrs Weasley stare with a cold expression.

"You are as bad as zat Tonks," Fleur said, making me raise an eyebrow. "She iz always knocking things over."

"Fleur you knocked like five teacups over at the Hufflepuff table that one day Cedric and Viktor sat with us," I said, making everyone smirk. "We're all flawed."

Fleur looked perplexed for a minute about why I'd snapped back, but then, she seemed to relax and sighed, recalling I'd mentioned my godfather was dating Tonks.

"I'm sorry," she said. "It waz silly of me."

"Mhm," Mrs Weasley said, looking pleased. She turned to me. "Do you know if your godfather is coming, Beth?"

"I think he might've gone to spend Christmas with Tonks' family," I said. "I encouraged him to."

"I see," she said, which I noticed made Bill and Mr Weasley smile.

We all kept eating while Mrs Weasley got up to bring over more gravy.

Then she suddenly screamed.

"Arthur!" Mrs Weasley cried. "Arthur— it's Percy!"

"What?" Mr Weasley and the twins asked in unison. George looked at me and I shrugged.

"Percy!" Mrs Weasley said. "He's with the Minister!"

The back door opened and Percy stepped in, the Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour behind him.

"Merry Christmas, Mother," Percy said in a flat voice, not looking around at us.

"Oh Percy!" Mrs Weasley cried, flinging herself into his arms.

"You must forgive the intrusion," Scrimgeour said. "Percy and I were in the vicinity working and he couldn't resist dropping in and seeing you all."

This was clearly a fat lie, because Percy did not show any signs of wanting to greet or catch up with any us.

"Please come in and sit down, Minister!" Mrs Weasley said. "Have some purkey.. or tooding... I mean turkey and pudding... there's ham..."

"No no my dear Molly, not to worry!" Scrimgeour said. "I don't want to intrude. We would not be here at all if Percy hadn't wanted to see you all so badly."

"Oh Perce!" Mrs Weasley cried.

"Ah young man!" Scrimgeour said, motioning to Harry. "You're finished—why don't you show me around the garden?"

Now instead of looking at Fleur, everyone was looking between Harry and Scrimgeour in utter silence.

"Yeah all right," Harry said. I figured Scrimgeour had asked to come here to talk to Harry about something. This did not have anything to do with Percy wanting to see his family.

Bill and Mr Weasley both began to stand up with Harry, who waved them off. "It's fine."

"Wonderful!" Scrimgeour said. "We'll just take a turn around the garden, and Percy and I'll be off. Carry on, everyone!"

Percy stood awkwardly in the kitchen, staring at the rest of his family. His eyes lingered over me for a second.

"Hi," I said.

"Elizabeth," he said. "Heard you were made Quidditch Captain and Head Girl."

"Yep," I said, making him nod.

"Good job," he said flatly. "I don't suppose Dumbledore took in mind the fact you have two counts of murder hanging over your head."

There was complete silence.

"Excuse me?" I said, my chest tight.

"It's a good accomplishment," Percy said. "But perhaps it might've gone to a student who hasn't had such dramatic run ins with the law—"

"I'm not sure I'm understanding," I said coldly. "You think because I accidentally killed two MURDERERS out of self defense, I don't deserve to be Head Girl?"

"Well what image does that place on the school?" Percy asked. "Makes it look like you were merely chosen for being Albus Dumbledore's favorite."

George stood up, his wand raised.

"You say one more thing to her and I will hex you," George snarled.

"George," I said softly, pulling him to sit down.

"I'm surprised you even let her in this house," Percy said flatly. "What with how dangerous she is—"

Mashed parsnip went flying everywhere the instant Fred and George raised their wands, but somehow only Percy was hit with it. Ginny grabbed a handful of leftovers in a bowl and threw them right at Percy's glasses.

Percy huffed loudly and stormed out, Mrs Weasley crying and begging him not to leave.

"I apologize for that, Beth," Mr Weasley said immediately. "He's too aligned with Ministry views—"

"It's alright," I said quickly. "It's fine, really. I know I didn't do that on purpose— they can call me a murderer all they want, but I know it's not what I am."

Mr and Mrs Weasley looked at me a bit sadly. Harry came inside right after and Ron briefly explained what'd happened.

I tried not to think of it.

That night I sat by the fire, a letter from Warrington in my hand, George's head on my lap.

"So what does Warrington have to say?" He asked.

"Well," I said, skimming over the letter. "Apparently after you and I left, he and Luna Lovegood started talking and he says she's really pretty..."

"Ooh," George said. "Write back to him telling him to be careful before his soft side gets exposed to the whole school."

I laughed lightly, taking a piece of parchment and scribbling a note back.

"I'll tell him to talk to her more," I said. "Maybe Luna feels the same."

George laughed lightly and reached a hand up to caress my face.

"I'm sorry about what Percy said," he mumbled. "He's such a bloody prick."

"It's fine," I said. "He's just being an idiot. He'll come around."

George looked into my eyes and let out a sigh.

"Please be safe," he said softly. "When you go back..."

I laughed lightly, a bit confused. "I'll be fine! What's the matter?"

"I have a really bad feeling," George said. "Like a really bad one. And I want you to be okay."

"I'll be careful, don't worry," I said, raising my eyebrow a bit. "You really shouldn't worry."

"I do worry," he said. "You're so far away from me."

"George," I said, taking his hand. "Where is all this coming from? How bad is this feeling?"

"I dunno," he said quietly. "I just... I had a dream that you and Dumbledore died."


	72. Chapter 72

As soon as we got back to school, I requested a meeting with Dumbledore.

"Elizabeth," he said, looking mildly surprised when I barged into his office.

"George had a dream," I blurted out. "A dream that Draco killed you and I. Both of us. Dumbledore he hasn't requested my help since what happened to Katie Bell and I'm worried Voldemort sent him to kill me too."

Dumbledore held his hand up. "Elizabeth I believe you are just a bit paranoid. His only task is to kill me. Don't you think we'd know if Draco was told to kill you too? Severus is very aware of al of the Dark Lord's plans. You are of no concern to him. He doesn't care if you live or die anymore. All he cares about is Harry."

I drew a deep breath. "You're sure? Because what are the odds of George dreaming Draco killed you?"

"Elizabeth," Dumbledore said gently. "I need to tell you. When I die it won't be at Draco's hand."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Draco will likely be unable to do it himself," Dumbledore sighed. "The plan is for Snape to kill me. But you must not tell Harry this— or Draco."

I stared blankly at him.

"So you're just okay with dying?" I mumbled.

"I have to be, Elizabeth," he said. "The Dark Lord must be defeated. This will help with that."

I bit my lip. "Okay... well... then what—?"

"Just keep being there for Draco," Dumbledore said. "I suggest going to check up on him now. If he tells you anything else about his task, report to me. If not, just go have a nice day."

"Fine," I said. "Your plan better work..."

"It will," Dumbledore said with a small smile.

I was still very confused as I left the room.

I walked down the hall toward the Slytherin Common Room and found Warrington waiting behind a pillar.

"Hey stranger," I said, smirking. "Got your letter."

"Got your reply," he said, turning pink. "You know I'd never... never really noticed her before. Everyone always said she was weird but I didn't give it a second thought because I never actually met her but she... she loves creatures that don't even exist— do you know how cute that is?"

I smirked, seeing him now in a full on rant about Luna.

"I mean it's ridiculous how people pass up the opportunity to get to know her just because she dresses weird," he said. "She's so sweet and she's humble and simple and so bloody smart—"

"Sounds like you should ask her out," I said simply. He blushed crimson.

"There is no way she likes me back, I think she just kind of enjoyed having someone to talk to," he said. "I mean she knows all my Slytherin buddies for being assholes to her— she wouldn't give me a second thought."

"Just ask her out, Cash," I said. "The worst that can happen is she'll say no."

He bit his lip. "Okay fine maybe I will— where are you headed?"

"Trying to find Draco," I said. "Need to talk to him."

"Oh he was just over here," Warrington said. "I'll show you."

I smiled as we walked.

Speak of the devil. We turned the hall and saw at the end of it, Luna Lovegood walking towards us, completely barefoot.

"Hey Luna," I said, raising my eyebrow. "Where are your shoes?"

I noticed Warrington tensed.

"Oh," she sighed. "Someone's gone and stole them again. But it's okay, I don't mind."

"People shouldn't be stealing your shoes," Warrington said immediately, balling his fists up.

"I'm used to it," she chirped. "They eventually reappear." Then she smiled to Warrington. "It's nice to see you again, Cassius." She put her glasses on. "Ooh.. You still have a lot of Nargles in your hair..."

"We'll do something about it," Warrington said. "About your shoes. Come on."

I raised my eyebrow and smiled when Luna happily followed him.

Warrington headed all the way to the Great Hall where several students were gathered.

"There's a pair," Luna said thoughtfully, looking up and pointing at a pair of shoes tied to a beam on the ceiling.

Warrington cleared his throat. "Listen up!" He yelled.

All the students went silent.

"Thievery is wrong," he said coldly. "Every founder thought so, even Salazar Slytherin. Luna here just mentioned all her shoes are missing. Unless you want your faces permanently damaged and all your precious belongings thrown in the Black Lake, you'll stop stealing her stuff. That goes for anyone else too. Stealing is wrong. For now, ten points will be removed from every House until the culprits step forward."

There was a series of yells of protest that what Warrington had said wasn't fair. Warrington ignored them and trudged away, and I quickly led Luna away.

"That was rather nice of him," Luna said dreamily. "He's got so many Nargles... they seem to like him. He IS so different..."

I smirked when she cocked her head slightly to stare at his departing figure.

"I'll see you around Luna," I said, craning my neck and noticing Draco heading down another hall by himself.

I had to jog to catch up to him.

"Malfoy!" I hissed, in case anyone was near.

He whipped around, and when he saw me, beckoned me into an empty classroom.

"What?" He asked nervously.

"Just checking in," I said quickly. "How are you?"

"F-Fine," he said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Okay not really," he muttered. "I-I'm busy."

"Well when you need me let me know okay," I said.

He hissed. "Potter can you keep a secret?"

"Yeah," I said, leaning against a desk.

"I'm making a poison," he said. "I need help— and you're a Potions prodigy. Can you... help me?"

I stared at him blankly. "Y-You want me to help with... with your task?"

"I just need you to look over the ingredients and tell me how deadly it is," he said, taking out a crumpled piece of parchment and thrusting it into my hand.

I looked over it and gulped. "I'd expect anyone who drank this would be dead in under three minutes— with a lot of pain involved."

He breathed deeply. "Good enough. Thank you..."

"There isn't any way for you to resist?" I mumbled. "You clearly don't want to do this..."

"I can't," he said coldly. "You know what it's like, watching the people you love die. I don't want that."

I nodded slowly, seeing the pain in his eyes.

"Well," I said softly. "I'll be around."

"I'll let you know if I... need you," he mumbled. "Thanks... Beth."

"You're welcome, Draco," I said before slipping out of the classroom.

I couldn't get over his eyes.

He was only 16 and he looked just as broken as his father.

__________

March came with the usual test preparations. I was excited because I was almost done. My NEWTs would be in May and I'd graduate in June. I was just months away from freedom.

Of course the month went bad almost immediately.

On too of really depressing Quidditch practices, Ron was poisoned on his birthday.

"Definitely not one of Ron's better birthdays, then," George said once he and Fred arrived to see Ron.

"No," I mumbled, watching Ron's still face.

"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present," Fred said.

"Yeah when we pictured the scene— he was conscious," George added. I winced.

"We were waiting in Hogsmeade to surprise him," Fred said solemnly.

"The trip was cancelled," I mumbled. "Wouldn't have gotten to see you anyway."

George wiggled his eyebrows to try and ease the tension. I smiled.

"Well," Fred said. "We were still contemplating buying Zonko's to have a Hogsmeade branch. But a fat lot of good that'll do us if you lot aren't allowed out on weekends to buy our stuff anymore."

"It's just dangerous now, to them," I said. "What with what happened to Katie and now Ron."

"It's suspicious," George said. I nodded. He turned to Harry. "So how exactly did it happen?"

Harry explained again, how Romilda Vane had put the love potion in the chocolates, and the mead had caused Ron to start seizing.

I'd already taken fifty points off Gryffindor and given her two weeks detention for it with McGonagall. I'd contemplated punching her but Warrington stopped me.

"Blimey," Fred mumbled. "Do Mum and Dad know?"

"They've already seen him, arrived an hour ago," Ginny said, sitting up in her chair. "They're in Dumbledore's office now, but will be back soon."

I wrung my hands together, and looked up. Hermione looked ashen.

"So the poison was in the drink?" Fred asked.

My heart skipped a beat.

"Yeah," Harry said. "Slughorn poured it out..."

"Would he have been able to slip something into Ron's glass without you seeing?" George asked.

"Probably," Harry said. "He had his back to us... but why would Slughorn want to poison Ron?"

"I dunno," Fred said. "But there's probably loads of people that'd like to poison Harry... being the Chosen One and all."

"So is Slughorn maybe a Death Eater?" Ginny asked.

"That's not likely," I said. "Slughorn as a Death Eater doesn't seem possible. It just.. isn't. I think Dumbledore would know."

"Didn't you say Slughorn said he'd been planning to give that bottle to Dumbledore for Christmas, Harry?" Ginny asked. "The poisoner could just as easily have been after Dumbledore."

I felt my chest tighten.

It was definitely Draco's poison.

And now everything was piecing itself together.

Draco must have slipped the poison into the mead and intended for it to go to Dumbledore— not Ron or Harry.

Ron coughed suddenly, making us all jump.

I went forward and pulled the tube Madam Pomfrey had put down his throat out. She had instructed me to do so as soon as he coughed.

This was a good sign.

Ron coughed again as I finished removing the tube.

"Good job, Ron," I said, setting the tube aside. "Breathing on your own now."

"Er my nee," Ron croaked.

I smirked slightly, then looked at Hermione, who was very red.

The doors of the Hospital Wing opened and Hagrid burst in, tracking muddy footprints on the floor that made Madam Pomfrey shriek.

"Bin in the forest all day!" He panted. "Aragog is getting worse... I bin readin' to him. Didn't get up ter dinner jus' now an' then Professor Sprout told me abou' Ron! How is he?"

"He's going to be alright," I said, breathing a sigh of relief. "He's breathing on his own again."

"I don' believe this!" Hagrid said. "I jus' don' believe it.. look at him lyin' there... who'd want ter hurt him?"

"We don't know," Harry said. "That's what we were just discussing."

"Someone couldn' have a grudge against the Gryffindor Quidditch team, could they?" Hagrid asked. "Firs' Katie, now Ron..."

"I can't see it being about Quidditch," I said. "They would have attacked Harry and I if anything. Someone bumping off a Quidditch team doesn't sound possible."

"Wood might've done the Slytherins if he could've got away with it," Fred said, making me shrug.

"I think Beth's right about it not being about Quidditch," Hermione said. "But I do think these attacks are connected."

She was right, but of course I couldn't tell her that.

"How d'you work that out?" George asked.

"Well for one thing, they both ought to have been fatal and weren't, although that part was pure luck," Hermione said. "Neither the poison or the necklace seems to have reached the person who was meant to be killed. That makes the person behind this even more dangerous because they don't seem to care how many people they finish off before they actually reach their victim."

That didn't necessarily mean Draco was dangerous, I thought. It was accidental that Katie touched the package, and a simple coincidence that Slughorn had served the mead to Ron. If Hermione knew the whole truth she'd know the coincidence was due to Draco's hesitation upon doing there tasks.

No one really understood him.

The doors opened again and Mr and Mrs Weasley stepped in.

"Dumbledore's told us how you saved him with a bezoar!" Mrs Weasley sobbed, running to Harry and hugging him tightly. "Oh Harry, what can we say? You saved Ginny... you saved Arthur... now you've saved Ron..."

"Don't be... I didn't..." Harry said.

"Half our family does seem to owe you their lives, now I stop and think about it," Mr Weasley said. "Well all I can say is that it was a lucky day for the Weasleys when Remus decided to have Beth meet the twins and set up for you and Ron to become friends, Harry."

I turned red when I saw George wink at me.

Harry didn't reply, and seemed grateful when Madam Pomfrey trilled that only six visitors were allowed at once, which was a cue for Hagrid, Hermione, Harry, and I to leave. George came with us.

"It's terrible," Hagrid mumbled as he walked us Hermione and Harry to the Gryffindor Common Room. "All this new security, an kids are still gettin' hurt... Dumbledore's worried sick... He don' say much, but I can tell.."

I winced and George took my hand.

Dumbledore couldn't really been worried sick. I mean, he knew why it was all happening.

"Hasn't Dumbledore got any ideas?" Hermione asked.

"I spect he's got hundreds with a brain like his," Hagrid said. "But he doesn' know who sent the necklace nor put poison in that mead, they'd've bin caught, wouldn't they? Wha' worries me is how long Hogwarts can stay open if kids are bein' attacked. Chamber o' Secrets all over again... there'll be panic, more parents takin' their kids outta school, an nex' thing yeh know the board o' governors... they'll be talkin' about shuttin' us up for good."

"Surely not!" I said, feeling guilty that I was helping Draco. It might be part of Dumbledore's plan but it was bad.

"Gotta see it from their poin' o' view," Hagrid sighed. "It's always bin a bit if a risk sendin' a kid ter Hogwarts, hasn't it? Yer expect accidents, don' yeh? With hundreds of underage wizards all locked up tergether, but attempted murder, tha's different. 'S no wonder Dumbledore's angry with Sn—"

Hagrid suddenly went quiet.

"Dumbledore's angry with Snape?" I asked, bewildered. "What— why?"

That made no sense, if Dumbledore and Snape were in it together.

"I never said tha'," Hagrid said quickly. "Look at the time, it's gettin' on fer midnight, I need ter—"

"Tell us the truth," Harry said fiercely.

I was a bit surprised at his tone.

"I dunno, I shouldn'ta heard it at all!" Hagrid said. "I— well— I was comin' outta the forest the other evenin' an' I overheard 'em talking— well arguin'. Didn't like ter draw attention to meself, so I sorta skulked an' tried not ter listen but it was a heated discussion an' it wasn' easy ter block it out."

"But why were they arguing?" Harry asked.

"Jus' heard Snape sayin' Dumbledore took too much fer granted and maybe he, Snape, didn' wan' ter do it anymore," Hagrid said.

"Do what?" Harry asked.

Snape didn't want to kill Dumbledore. That made sense...

"I dunno, Harry, sounded like Snape was feelin' a bit overworked tha's all," Hagrid said. "Anyway, Dumbledore told him flat out he'd agreed ter do it an' that was all there was to it. Pretty firm with him. An' then he said summat abou' Snape makin' investigations in his House, in Slytherin.

"Oho!" A voice wheezed behind us, making us whip around to see Filch. "Out of bed so late, this'll mean detention."

"No it won' Filch," Hagrid said. "They're with me."

"And me," I piped up.

"And what difference does that make?" Filch demanded.

"I'm a ruddy teacher, aren' I, yeh sneakin' Squib!" Hagrid snapped, making me surprised. "You four get goin'."

Harry, Hermione, George, and I darted away as Hagrid and Filch began to snarl at each other.

"Bloody hell," I said. "Never thought Hagrid would call Filch a Squib or snap at him."

"That was odd," Hermione said. "Suppose he was a bit riled up with Harry questioning him..."

She shot my brother a look.

"I just wanted to know," Harry said. "It's not everyday you hear about Dumbledore being angry with someone."

When we got to the Gryffindor Common Room, Hermione and Harry went right to bed.

George walked me to my dormitory.

"Warrington did night duty on his own?" He asked.

"Yep," I said. "And these past months he and Luna have gotten to know each other. It's really cute."

George smiled. "That's the most unexpected couple ever. But very cute."

"Yep," I said. "I just hope he—"

"There you are, Potter!"

I whipped around, seeing McLaggen coming down the hall.

He completely ignored George and looked me dead in the eyes. "Look, I saw them taking Weasley up to the Hospital Wing earlier. Didn't look like he'll be fit for Saturday's match."

The little rat!

"Oh.. right... Quidditch," I said. "Yeah er... he might not make it."

"Well then I'll be playing Keeper, won't I?" McLaggen asked eagerly.

"I suppose so," I replied.

Fucking hell.

"Excellent!" McLaggen said. "So when's practice?"

"Tomorrow evening," I said.

"Good," he said, looking me up and down. "Listen Beth, we should have a talk beforehand. I've got some ideas on strategy you might find useful."

"One, dont call me Beth," I said coldly. "Two, wait for me to talk strategy. I'm Captain."

He raised an eyebrow. "Okay then."

He seemed to finally notice George.

"Weasley," he said gruffly.

"McLaggen," George said, looking angry. "I happened to hear from Warrington and Harry that you've been trying to be the big man with my girl and put yourself onto her?"

McLaggen looked slightly afraid. "That was months ago."

"Don't act stupid, I saw you check her out just now," George said, stepping forward. I don't think I'd ever seem him so mad. "If you think you can treat women like that and not be reprimanded you've got another thing coming. If I ever hear from her or anyone else that you tried to hurt her, I will come here myself and leave every bone in your face so broken not even St Mungo's will be able to fix you."

McLaggen stepped back and cast me a nasty look before stalking away.

I was finally able to breathe.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

"I fucking hate him," George spat.

I laughed lightly. "God you are so hot when you're mad."

He blushed before kissing my cheek. "Goodnight. I'm going to ask if I can stay for the match on Saturday."

I smiled. "Goodnight. Love you."

He smiled back slightly before walking away, his fists still balled up.

Just as I turned to enter my room I heard a noise.

I turned and saw Draco creeping my way from another hallway.

"I need you," he said as soon as he appeared beside me.

I nodded and opened my dormitory door, letting him inside.

Luckily Warrington was already asleep. I made Draco some tea then sat beside him on the couch.

"I can't do this anymore," he whispered. "I don't want to. Weasley— He wasn't supposed to get hurt. I didn't..."

"I know, Draco," I said. "I know you didn't intend for the poison to hurt Ron."

He gulped and took a sip of the tea.

"He'd kill me," Draco murmured. "HIM. If he knew I was slacking. He'd kill my mother and maybe even my father..."

He shivered.

"I can't think straight," he said. "I can't concentrate in class. All I can think about is that I have a task and I'm very delayed on completing it. A-And I don't think I can do it. Ever. I can't..."

His eyes squeezed shut and a few tears slipped out.

"How did you feel," he said softly, "when you learned you'd... killed Macnair?"

"Awful," I said, leaning back against the armrest. "I mean at first I was... I was fine with it. I felt like he deserved it for serving him. But when I got back and Cedric's funeral happened I really just couldn't rid myself of the guilt."

Draco's hand shook as he brought the teacup to his lips.

"I even felt bad when I killed Mr Hoganson," I said. "I did. Because taking a human life is still... destruction. I tell myself everyday they both deserved it. They'd killed innocent people. I tell myself I had no other choice. That helps me stay sane and remember in the end... I'm not a bad person."

Draco winced. "No other choice..."

I took his hand and he flinched. I squeezed it and he sighed.

"H-How can you be so kind to me?" He whispered. "I've hurt your best friends. A-And I know you've figured out by now I'm trying to kill someone. I'm a murderer. Y-You... You shouldn't be so kind to me..."

He croaked and more tears slipped out of his eyes.

"You are not a murderer," I whispered. "You are not a bad person. You are being forced to do something you do not want to do. You are doing this to save your mother. I know you don't have any other choice. You may have hurt people but they... they're okay. You didn't do it with malicious intent, you didn't rejoice at their suffering. You cried— are crying. Because doing this hurts you. A bad person wouldn't feel guilt, wouldn't feel remorse. They would not feel this horrible. You are no murderer, Draco Malfoy. You will not be a murderer. I don't consider myself one, despite what the Ministry says. I had no other choice. I am not a bad person. And neither are you."

Draco shuddered and put the tea cup down, covering his face with his hands, a soft sob escaping his mouth.

I pulled him into my arms and rubbed his back.

He put his arms around my neck and leaned into my chest, still sobbing. I stroked his hair, breathing deeply to stop myself from crying.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed, looking up, his eyes red. "I'm so sorry..."

I cupped his face in my hands and kissed his forehead before wrapping my arms around him again.

"I forgive you," I said quietly. "And they will too."

________

"Tricky conditions!" McLaggen said to the team. "Coote, Peakes, you'll want to fly out of the sun so they don't see you coming..."

"Yes, thank you," I said gruffly, not wanting to admit he was right. "Just go get up by the goal posts, McLaggen."

He smirked in satisfaction and winked.

Today we were playing Hufflepuff. For some reason, Harry had arrived to the changing rooms slightly agitated, although he didn't want to tell me why. I sure hoped it didn't impact his performance, because I did not want to lose to Zacharias Smith.

"And that's Smith of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle," Luna's dreamy voice announced when the game began. "He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose. Smith was being rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now that he's playing them— oh look, he's lost the Quaffle— Elizabeth Potter took it from him. And now she's passed it to Ginny. I do like those two... they're very nice..."

I smiled, seeing that in the stands, Warrington was staring at Luna with a dreamy expression, Fred and George seated beside him. I zoomed down the pitch as Ginny tossed the Quaffle back to me and I scored.

"Demelza, move center," I said. She nodded and did that, but then Cadwallader caught the Quaffle as I passed it to her, making me whip around wildly on my broom in pursuit of him.

McLaggen was not paying attention. He was shouting at Ginny for not being in position, and thus allowed Cadwallader's thrown Quaffle into the hoop.

"McLaggen, will you pay attention to what you're supposed to be doing and leave everyone else alone?" I snarled, wheeling my broom back around.

"You're not setting a great example!" McLaggen snapped back.

"And Elizabeth Potter's not having an argument with his Keeper," Luna said. "I don't think that'll help her Chaser strategy, but maybe it's a clever ruse..."

I swore loudly, catching the Quaffle as Caldwallader threw it to Zacharias Smith. I sped down the pitch, and passed it to Demelza last minute, which earned us another ten points.

Then Ginny and Demelza each scored another goal, but unfortunately Hufflepuff was still beating us seventy forty.

"Is it that already?" Luna asked vaguely. "Oh look! The Gryffindor Keeper's got hold of one of the Beater's bats."

I whipped around, seeing McLaggen holding Peakes's bat and apparently teaching him how to hit the Bludger.

"Will you give him back his bat and get back to the goal posts!" Harry bellowed, flying near McLaggen.

Then I screamed, because McLaggen swung the bat and hit Harry on the head, knocking him off his broom. Coote and Peakes barely caught him.

"MCLAGGEN!" I snarled loudly as Coote and Peakes flew Harry down to be taken to the Hospital Wing. "How dare you—"

"That's not my fault—"

"LIKE HELL IT WASN'T—"

"I wasn't aiming for him—"

"YOU'RE FINISHED!" I snarled, making our whole team gather around. "Sit down, McLaggen."

"But—"

"SIT DOWN."

He cursed and flew down to the stands.

I rubbed my temples.

"Okay," I said, waving at Dean Thomas and Bradley Cooper, our backup Keeper.

They flew up to join us and I took a deep, furious breath.

I noticed Warrington seemed to be holding George back from charging at McLaggen, who was now being yelled at by McGonagall.

"Dean," I said. "You're in as Chaser. Bradley— Keeper. You have five minutes to warm up."

They nodded and quickly went to do laps. Madam Hooch flew over and I told her the changes I'd made.

"Are you going to play Seeker?" Ginny asked frantically.

"Nope," I said, smiling wryly at her. "You are."

Her smile grew. "Really?"

"Ginny, YOU'RE our backup Seeker," I said. "Come on."

She nodded excitedly.

Bradley and Dean returned minutes later and I signaled to Madam Hooch that I was ready for the game to continue.

The game only intensified after that. Bradley was doing very well— better than McLaggen had been. Dean luckily coordinated well with Demelza and I, and we managed to score several times. To top it all off, Ginny caught the Snitch.

"That was a very interesting game," Luna sighed into the microphone, although I'm not sure if she'd actually watched the whole thing since after the changes to our team were made, she began talking about the clouds.

I flew down to the stands, and Warrington's eyes lit up.

"Good!" He said. "You can babysit George now. I'm going to talk to my girl."

He sprinted toward the commentator's box.

"Babysit me," George scowled.

"I saw you almost lunged at McLaggen," I said. "You needed babysitting."

He rolled his eyes and put his arm around me.

We were halfway down the stands when McLaggen ran up to us.

"You got so lucky Bradley didn't slip up," McLaggen spat, his face contorted with rage. "You should have left me in."

"This wouldn't be a problem if you stopped being such an arrogant prick and taking matters into your own hands," I snapped, stepping out of George's arms and up to sneer in McLaggen's face. "Remind me again who's Captain, McLaggen? Me. So you don't get to dictate anything. As far as you're concerned, you no longer hold any place on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I expect your locker cleared by tomorrow."

His hand swiped out with such incredible speed I didn't get to shield myself before it collided with my face.

Next thing I knew, I was thrown aside and when I looked up, George was on top of McLaggen, punching his face so hard I could hear bones breaking.


	73. Chapter 73

"It's only three fingers..."

"ONLY THREE? George that's almost your entire hand..."

"Well McLaggen's got a broken jaw and a concussion and a really bruised eye, I believe three fingers is a small price to pay..."

I sighed and shook my head, pouring some more of his medicine in his mouth.

The good news is McLaggen got what he deserved.

The bad news is George is now banned from Hogwarts.

"I'll just sneak in," he said. "Sirius did it all the time."

"Sirius was an animagus."

"I'll become an animagus!" He cried. "A cute little cat."

"McGonagall would know you were a fraud," I said. "You'd be the reddest cat in history."

He laughed and leaned forward, kissing my cheek. I flinched and he frowned.

"See?" He said. "Your cheek STILL hurts. I don't care that I broke three fingers— I just want to know he will NEVER hurt you or another woman like that."

I smiled slightly and caressed his face.

"I love you," I whispered.

"I love you too."

Eventually George was discharged and returned home, and I was once again left to work on test prep and deal with an excited Batavia, who had already begun planning her graduation outfit.

In April, Ron finally begun talking to Hermione again and Lavender broke up with him since he basically stopped talking to her.

Harry on the other hand, had had a mission from Dumbledore to retrieve a particular memory from Slughorn regarding Tom Riddle, and had so far been unsuccessful.

"And you need our help?" Batavia asked, looking strangely at Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

"Yes," Harry said. "See— Slughorn adores you, Batavia, and if you and Beth combined ask him, maybe he'll cough up."

"Harry this is YOUR task though," I said. "We're probably not even lucky enough to get a confession— he's really set on not telling anyone—"

A lightbulb seemed to go off in Harry's head.

"The Felix Felicis!" He cried. "Damn I'm stupid..."

"You are," I chirped.

Batavia laughed and Harry rolled his eyes and sprinted upstairs.

I looked at her and shrugged.

He came back down with the vial of Felix Felicis in his hands and smirked like an idiot.

"Well?" Ron asked. "Drink it!"

Harry chugged about half of what was in the vial down.

"Well? How do you feel?" Hermione asked, looking around and seeing we were now alone in the Common Room.

"Excellent," Harry said. "I'm going to Hagrid's."

"Hagrid's?" I asked. "Doesn't he have the funeral for his giant spider today?"

Harry nodded.

"I've got a good feeling about Hagrid's," he said. "I feel like it's the place to be tonight, you know what I mean?"

Batavia covered a snort. I could tell she thought Harry was being ridiculous.

"No," Ron and Hermione said, looking almost afraid.

"This is Felix Felicis I suppose?" Hermione asked, looking at the bottle. "You haven't got another little bottle full of... I don't know..."

"Essence of Insanity?" Ron asked. The fact that Harry laughed seemed to make Hermione and Ron a lot more concerned.

"Trust me," Harry said. "I know what I'm doing. Or at least Felix does. Want to come, Beth?"

"I can't leave, I've made Warrington cover our rounds alone too much," I said. "Tell Hagrid I wish I could've gone, though!"

Harry nodded and sprinted out the portrait hole.

Hermione looked nervously at me. "He was... odd."

"Off his rocker," Batavia decided. "But I suppose that's what Felix Felicis does, right?"

"Well there are always side effects," Hermione said.

"Let's hope my brother doesn't stay a happy go lucky git forever then," I said, making Batavia giggle.

I stood up and she sighed.

"You're leaving already?" She mumbled.

"Batavia I have rounds," I said.

She pouted.

I patted her head. "You'll be okay."

Hermione raised her eyebrow. "Now you're acting strange."

"Just because I patted her head? Come on, Hermione."

"We knew the Potters were crazy," Ron said. "Just not this crazy."

I grabbed a pillow off the couch and smacked him with it, leaving the trio laughing as I headed off to do my rounds.

_______

The next morning Harry told us about what Dumbledore had told him once they'd viewed Slughorn's memory— which he thankfully acquired from a very drunk Potions teacher.

I will now call Harry 'Parry Otter.'

"Wow, you're actually going with Dumbledore...and try and destroy...wow," Ron mumbled.

"Ron you're making it snow," Hermione noted.

Batavia giggled and stuck her tongue out to catch a snowflake in her hand.

"I wish a snowball would just fall out of the sky," I said, seeing Batavia craning her neck back.

I looked up, hoping a snowball would fall into her mouth, but instead a snowflake fell in my eye, making me blink so quickly that Harry started laughing. I scowled at him.

"Shut up Parry," I said.

"Hey!"

"Seriously," Ron said. "You're so lucky, Harry."

"It'll probably be dangerous though," Harry said.

"Where are your manners?" I sighed. "Say 'thank you, Felix.'"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Felix."

"Can I go too?" Batavia asked.

"I think it's just a me and Dumbledore thing," he said. "But if I could take you all... I would."

Batavia sighed sadly.

"Trust me," I said, "you probably don't want to go."

She shrugged.

Ron brushed some snow off Hermione's shoulder. Lavender, who was sitting nearby, burst into tears and ran away.

"We split up nearly a month ago and she still isn't over me!" Ron said.

"She just misses you," I said. "I mean, you ARE the first boyfriend she's ever had."

"What? Really?" Ron asked.

"Honestly I'm not even surprised that you didn't know," I said with a sigh, which made Hermione laugh.

"You are so clueless," Batavia mused. "Even Bixby wasn't— KATIE?"

"Bixby wasn't Katie?" Ron asked.

I looked to where Batavia was facing and saw that the doors of the Great Hall had opened, and in between them stood Katie.

Batavia and I leapt up and practically sprinted towards her, throwing our arms around her.

"Didn't you mother EVER tell you not to touch strange objects?" Batavia sobbed before leaning on Katie's shoulder.

Katie rolled her eyes and smirked at me. "Well Batavia I dunno, did my mother ever expect me to be Imperiused? Probably not."

"So how are you?" I asked, finally pulling away so she could breathe.

"I'm loads better!" She said. "They let me out of St Mungos on Monday, I had a couple of days at hole with Mum and Dad then came back here this morning. Leanne was just telling me about McLaggen and the last match, Beth."

"Yeah," I said. "Well now you're back and Ron's fit, we'll have a better chance of thrashing Ravenclaw, which means we could win the Cup. Listen Katie...that necklace.. can you remember who gave it to you now?"

I was hoping she wouldn't remember.

"No," Katie said, making me sigh in relief. "I haven't got a clue. The last thing I remember was walking into the ladies' in the Three Broomsticks..."

"You definitely went into the bathroom, then?" Batavia asked.

Katie nodded.

"I pushed open the door," Katie said. "I suppose whoever Imperiused me was standing just behind it. After that my memory is blank until about two weeks ago at St Mungos. Listen, I'd better go, I wouldn't put it past McGonagall to give me lines even if its my first day back."

"Want us to walk you there?" I asked, seeing she still looked a bit fragile.

"Nah I'll be okay," she said, smiling. "Thanks for not killing each other, you two."

"Psh," Batavia said, smirking. "No worries. I'll strangle her tomorrow, if you'd like."

Katie giggled and left and I mocked Batavia's laugh.

"Best hope I don't choke you," I said. "Oh wait— that's Oliver's job..."

She rolled her eyes and turned red.

When we got back to the table we saw Harry had already slipped out after us.

"Lovely," I said. "Did he mention where he was going?"

"To check the Room of Requirement for Malfoy, I suppose," Hermione sighed. "He's missing."

I looked around the hall and saw she was right.

"I'll go find him," I said.

I can only hope she assumed I meant Harry and not Draco.

I scurried down the hall to the first floor girl's bathroom— the one with Moaning Myrtle in it.

Draco had told me he sometimes went to hide in there, and I had to hope he was there.

I pushed open the door and there he was, crouched over the sink, Moaning Myrtle floating beside him.

He was sobbing, his eyes squeezed shut.

"How long as he been here?" I asked, looking right at Myrtle.

"A good ten minutes," she said, looking at him sadly. She reached her hand out to stroke his hair. Of course it went right through his head, but I suppose it made her feel like she was helping.

Draco looked more distressed than usual.

"Draco," I said in the most soothing voice I could muster. "Draco..."

He shook his head and let out a strangled gasp.

He held the sink so tightly it screeched, and I could see it was hurting him.

Myrtle tried to caress his arm.

"Don't..." Myrtle said softly. "Tell me what's wrong, I can help you..."

"No one can help me!" Draco croaked. He started shaking. "I can't do it...I can't....It won't work...he says he'll kill me if I don't do it soon...he— he's after my mother now... if something happens to her because I f-failed then I will never forgive myself."

"Draco," I said quietly, rubbing his back. "Come on, I-I can help you—"

He looked up and I did too.

My eyes widened, catching a glimpse of Harry's figure in the mirror, standing at the door.

Draco saw Harry too. Just as Harry pushed the door open, Draco raised his wand.

"Avada—"

"Draco, NO!" I screamed, casting a Protego Charm.

"Sectumsempra!"

I screamed, barely catching Draco before he hit the stone floor, his side beginning to be filled with gashes.

"No... no I didn't—" Harry said.

"W-what did you do?" I cried frantically, taking my robes off and pressing them to Draco's wounds, which were appearing at an alarming rate.

"I didn't—"

"Harry, WHAT DID YOU DO?" I snapped, wrapping the robes tightly around Draco and caressing his face. "Oh Merlin, Draco, hang on..."

"Beth, I swear I didn't—"

"Please Harry," I said, looking up at him. "Please don't tell me this is one of those spells from that godawful book!"

"B-Beth I d-didn't—"

I looked up at him furiously.

"Batavia, Hermione, and I TOLD you to be careful with that stupid book!" I cried. "Harry you can't possibly be serious!"

Harry struggled to argue back. "W-Well he hurt Katie and Ron!"

Draco was hardly breathing now.

I looked at Harry and my jaw tightened.

"You can't possibly blame that on him," I said. "You have no idea—"

He suddenly looked at me with rage.

"You helped him," he said, his voice shaky. "You helped him hurt Katie and Ron!"

"No!" I cried. "Don't be stupid! I just—"

"YOU WERE JUST OFFERING TO HELP HIM, BETH!" Harry yelled.

"If you would just let me explain—"

"NO!" He yelled. "You— KATIE IS YOUR BEST FRIEND! RON IS LIKE ANOTHER BROTHER TO YOU! HOW—"

"HARRY!" I screamed. "Please hear me out—"

"You've been making friends with all the Slytherins!" He yelled. "First Warrington and Malfoy— you— you betrayed us!"

"BETRAYED YOU?" I spat. "Harry no this isn't what that is—"

"THEN TELL ME WHAT IT IS BETH—"

"ASK DUMBLEDORE—"

"MALFOY IS TRYING TO KILL DUMBLEDORE—"

The door flew open and Snape burst into the bathroom.

"Draco to the Hospital Wing," Snape said. "Potters, with me."

Harry looked at me, and my chest tightened.

I followed him and Snape to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Snape sent Harry to get something minutes after beginning to speak with him. Then he called me in.

"Tell me what happened," he demanded.

"I went to check on Draco because Hermione told me Harry was spying on him," I said. "He—He wasn't okay, and I was going to help him, but then Harry came snooping and D-Draco fired a Killing Curse so Harry used this... this spell... and..."

"You two were yelling very loudly when I arrived," Snape said. "What happened with that?"

Gritting my teeth, I breathed heavily, forcing the rest of my tears to stay back.

"Harry heard me offering to help Draco," I said. "So now he's absolutely furious with me."

Snape cursed and shook his head.

"Can I PLEASE explain to him what's going on?" I cried.

"No!" Snape yelled. "No— don't tell him anything— he can't know..."

I flinched and Snape rubbed his temples.

"He didn't want to accept my help," Snape murmured. "He didn't— he would be DONE with his task if he'd just listened..."

Harry walked in, and Snape sent me out.

Immediately after, I went to the Hospital Wing, where I found Draco being patched up.

"Beth..." he groaned.

I shook my head. "Draco I'm not happy with you either. Why would you go for a Killing Curse?"

"I'm—I'm sorry," he croaked, looking guilty.

I sighed and covered my face.

"Well I have no idea how the hell I'm going to explain our friendship to my brother—"

Draco looked at me strangely.

"We— we're friends?" He asked.

"Yes, dummy! What did you think?" I asked. "I'm not your shrink!"

Draco laughed lightly then winced, holding his side.

"Y-You can tell him W-Warrington p-put you up to helping me o-or something," Draco offered.

"Well I don't want to just throw Warrington under the bus," I mumbled.

I sighed deeply.

"You should have accepted Snape's help, Draco," I said.

"No!" Draco spat, now looking annoyed. "Don't you understand? H-He made ME do it so my m-mother would be safe! I-I'd never redeem my family name if I let Snape take the credit!"

"Snape probably wouldn't have taken the credit you idiot," I said. "He was all for helping your mum protect YOU! You wouldn't still be suffering if you'd just let him help!"

Draco scowled and looked away.

"Hey," I said fiercely. "You wanted my support? I gave it to you. But that comes with criticism too! Voldemort is more likely to have hurt your mum for you taking so bloody long to do this task than to hurt her because Snape helped you with it!"

Draco bit his lip and looked at me.

"He's going to fucking kill me," he said in a hoarse voice.

"He won't," I hissed. "You don't mean enough for him to kill you, Draco."

"Gee thanks—"

"You should be grateful," I said. "When this is over just try and keep out of his way..."

Draco swallowed back tears. "H-He gave me one job—"

"Killing Albus frickin' Dumbledore is like the hardest job in the word— even HE couldn't do it!" I cried.

Draco was silent. "How—?"

"I figured as much," I lied, not wanting him to find out that Dumbledore knew all about the plan. "I know there's more to the task but that part is unknown to me."

Draco sat up, tears now dry on his face.

"Oh come here," I sighed, pulling him into a hug.

I couldn't stand to see him cry.

I spent the entire night by Draco's side as Madam Pomfrey patched him up. He was in so much pain when she did so, I had to stop myself from giving him too much of his painkiller tonic.

The next day I went back to the Common Room, where I found Batavia, Hermiome, Ron, Harry, and Ginny on the couch.

"I told you there was something wrong with that Prince person!" Hermione was saying angrily to Harry. "And I was right, wasn't I?"

"How was I supposed to know that it was an evil spell?" Harry spat.

"The others you'd tried were bad," Batavia argued. "And plus— you HATE Snape. I think Beth figuring out it was his book should've been enough of an indication not to listen to it."

Harry looked up, noticed I was there, scowled, and stormed upstairs.

"For the record," I grumbled, "I was Malfoy's emotional support on Dumbledore's orders. Don't tell Harry, but it's true."

Batavia nodded grimly and Ginny sighed, covering her face.

I trotted upstairs to Harry's dorm, where I found him laying face down on his bed.

"Go away," he mumbled.

"No," I said, sitting on his bed by his feet. "Hear me out."

He looked up at me furiously.

"You figured it out," I said. "You figured out Draco was doing something bad. He was. I know he was. But he didn't want to, Harry. He needed support. He needed a friend. That was all I was— all I am to him. I didn't help him cause anyone harm. Hell— He didn't want to cause anyone harm. Please just let him be. This doesn't make things easier for him."

Harry scoffed. "Make things easier for him?"

"He is hurt," I snapped. "Scared. Humiliated. Angry. Because Voldemort is forcing him to do something he doesn't want to do. Harry I would NEVER help Voldemort, you know that. But I WILL help a good person in need."

"Since when is Malfoy a good person?" He spat.

"Am I a good person?" I asked.

Harry mumbled a response.

"Am I?" I asked.

"Yes," Harry said.

"Even though I killed two people?"

"You didn't do that on purpose—"

"He didn't hurt Katie and Ron on purpose," I said. "He may have been rude to you and I for many years and maybe his father is an evil prick. But Draco isn't a bad person. He has feelings too. And he needed a friend, Harry. If you'd seen him howI did... crying..."

Harry's jaw twitched. "I'm not going to apologize to him."

"Fine," I said. "Don't. But leave him the bloody hell alone. You... you'll understand. Someday."

Harry rolled his eyes in response and I sighed.

"I'm sorry," he said gruffly.

"For what?"

"For being mad at you. For thinking you were helping Voldemort. Just... damn it Beth why do you have to be so nice to Slytherins?"

"Because they're people too," I said. "Looking at Warrington— head over heels for Luna Lovegood. They all have soft spots. They just prefer not to break the norms within Slytherin House. You know how people would see them if they were nice all the time?"

"Like wusses."

"Exactly," I said. "Cut them all some slack Harry, please."

He scowled and rolled over.

_______

Two weeks passed before the Quidditch final, which we were going to be playing against Ravenclaw.

Unfortunately, Harry had detention every Saturday now. Snape felt it a good punishment for what he did to Draco and I didn't disagree.

This of course meant he would not be able to play in the game.

Harry didn't come to practices anymore, which was good for me because it meant he was with Hermione, actually studying for his end of the year exams.

Dean was now benched again, since Katie's return meant she would be playing in the upcoming match. He didn't mind though, and instead helped Ginny on her Seeker drills.

We got a very good formation established for us Chasers. Playing Demelza as center turned out to be the key to good coordination.

The Beaters of course did their own thing, but at this point Coote and Peakes were such good friends that there wasn't much for me to worry about.

Thankfully, Ron's attitude was good enough so that he maintained a very healthy level of confidence in practice and the days leading up to the game.

I felt we had a good chance of winning.

The day of the match, I gathered the entire team in the changing room.

"I am," I began, "so incredibly proud to have been your Captain this year. I have watched you guys triumph over our collective struggles and your own, and am so glad to see that you've all grown as people and players. I still have no idea who I'm picking as Captain, but you best believe, you are ALL deserving of that post."

"We're going to do our best," I said, looking around. "Let's kick some Ravenclaw arse."

We cheered, and I waved for everyone to follow me out.

We all took our positions. I walked up to Cho Chang, who was the captain this year, and shook her hand firmly, which made her glare at me.

She still seemed to hate me for calling her out after she moved on from Cedric so fast.

The game began and I launched myself into the air.

"Katie Bell is back," Zacharias Smith said. "Good for Gryffindor, I suppose..."

"It is GREAT for Gryffindor!" I cried, earning a cheer from the Gryffindor population below.

"Bell passes to Potter, passes to Robbins, back to Bell— Bell scores! Ten nil, Gryffindor."

Our strategy was working.

"Carter to Hickam, Hickam back to Carter, INTERCEPTED by Bell of Gryffindor, ah... she dropped it. Caught my Juggs of Ravenclaw, Juggs speeding down the pitch..."

"Come on Ron," I mumbled.

Ron saved it.

Smiling proudly, I caught the Quaffle as Katie threw it to me, and sped down the pitch, managing to score.

Demelza and Katie each scored two goals apiece after that, and I three. Ron accidentally let in some goals from the Ravenclaws but still saved quite a lot, which made up for it.

"Ah, now is where it gets interesting," Zacharias Smith said. "It seems the Snitch has no intention of appearing... however right now we are tied one hundred and fifty to a hundred and fifty. Catching the Snitch would surely break this tie..."

That was stating the obvious, but okay.

Then a little glint of gold caught my eye. I looked up and saw Ginny had already plummeted down, and Cho Chang followed her. The Golden Snitch was headed straight to the ground.

I tried my hardest to focus on my part, but once I scored again, it seemed everyone had agreed we should stop and watch.

Cho and Ginny were practically plummeting to their death. If they went much further, they'd crash straight into the ground.

Cho didn't seem to be able to hang on much longer. She was about ten feet away from the ground when she pulled up.

Ginny waited until she was about to hit the ground and then thrust her body up and forward, seizing the Snitch. She pulled up at the last second and saved herself from hitting the ground with a defeaning crack.

Cho Chang screamed with rage, and the Gryffindors out of happiness. I dismounted my broom and sprinted to Ginny, picking her up and spinning her around.

"YES GINNY YES!" I screamed, hearing her sobbing lightly, a huge smile on her face.

I put her down just as the Gryffindors swooped down and began picking up every member of the team.

Smiling like a maniac, I allowed the Gryffindors to carry me all the way into the Party, where I was hugged and high fived so many times that I was more exhausted than I'd been when the game had finally ended.

"Look at you two!" Batavia shrieked happily as she pulled Katie and I into a tight hug. "My Quidditch stars!"

"Thanks mama," Katie giggled. She turned to me and smiled.

I could still remember the day we'd tried out in second year.  
  


_I ran over to where Katie was waiting, looking slightly scared._

_"Hi," I said as she and I kicked off and began to do our laps._

_"Hey," she said breathlessly. "We're the youngest out here."_

_"Really?" I asked, wincing._

_"Yeah," she said. "Oh Merlin I don't know if I'm going to make it anymore..."_

_"I tell you what," I said, my voice slightly shaky, "we're both going to make it onto the team. Both of us."_

_"Okay," she said, smiling slightly_.  
  


"We started together," she said.

"And ended together," I finished.

She began to cry out of happiness and I sighed, letting her hug me.

I didn't want to think about the fact that this was my last Quidditch game.

The portrait hole opened and Harry stepped in. He saw us celebrating and ran to me.

"You won?" He asked excitedly.

"It was all Ginny!" I said, smirking. "She was so, so amazing!"

Harry turned to Ginny and waved, and almost like it'd been rehearsed, they ran towards each other.

Just as Harry reached her, he grabbed her face and kissed her full on the lips.

The Common Room went dead silent, and Batavia's mouth dropped open.

Harry and Ginny pulled away, both of them breathing heavily.

I looked around and smiled at the sight.

Romilda Vane looked like she might commit murder.

Dean Thomas was holding a broken glass.

Hermione looked like it was Christmas.

Ron smiled, and shrugged.

I have to say, I doubt I've ever squealed louder than the moment that Harry smiled like an absolute, lovesick idiot, and looked at Ginny, leading to the two of them sprinting out of the Common Room.

Together.


	74. Chapter 74

When exams were finally over, there was really nothing left to do.

Most days, we all just played Quidditch outside, which sort of helped Katie and I stop being so sad about our Quidditch days being over.

Other days, we'd sit in the Common Room and talk, sometimes about serious topics, sometimes about stupid things that just made us laugh.

"So," Warrington said one night, looking up from the book he was reading. "I was thinking I can ask Luna tomorrow if she'd like to come over to my house sometime during the summer."

I wiggled my eyebrows. "Well isn't that bold?"

"We graduate in just weeks Beth, don't you think I ought to make a move?" He asked.

I nodded. "I'm proud, Cash. Very proud."

He leaned back against the couch. "Remember how much you hated me at the beginning of this year?"

I smiled wryly. "Yes, I do. You turned out to be a much better person than I thought, Warrington."

"You turned out a lot less annoying than I thought you'd be, Potter."

I laughed and he cleared his throat.

"Okay," he said, looking around almost as if he expected someone to hear him. "I'm going to tell you a secret."

"Shoot," I said.

Warrington scooted closer. "I got accepted into the Braxton Institute for my magizoology internship."

My eyes widened. "Cash that's amazing!" I squealed, pulling him in for a hug. "Oh my God— that's like one of the best ones! I'm so proud of you!"

He grimaced slightly. "The thing is I haven't told my parents," he said. "And you know at graduation they announce what we want to be?"

"Yeah," I said. "But your parents will be happy, won't they?"

He winced. "They think Magizoologists are stupid."

"What?" I spluttered. "No they're not! They're amazing!"

"To most people yeah," he said. "But my dad wanted me to go into business like him."

I put my hand on his shoulder.

"You worked very hard this year," I said. "I saw all those sleepless nights you spent studying for your NEWTs. You got accepted at BRAXTON— you know how rare that is? You should be proud no matter what, and if your parents can't accept that then screw them."

He smiled a bit. "You're going to be a great mom, Beth."

I turned red and slapped his shoulder.

Aside from chats with Warrington, Batavia, and Katie about graduation and well— the future, Harry's lessons with Dumbledore were the only thing I REALLY looked forward to hearing about. It seemed that any day now, Harry would be asked to go Horcrux hunting with Dumbledore.

One night, I was sitting with Ron, Hermione, Batavia, and Katie in the Gryffindor Common Room while Harry was supposed to have a meeting with Dumbledore when Harry himself ran in, looking absolutely distressed.

"Harry?" I asked, getting up. "What did Dumbledore want? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Harry said. He ran up to his dormitory then came back with the Marauder's Map. He opened it, breathing heavily.

"I haven't got much time," he said. "Dumbledore thinks I'm getting my Invisibility Cloak."

He began to explain how he and Dumbledore were going Horcrux hunting and how he'd heard from Trelawney that Snape ratted out our parents.

"Snape?" I spluttered, taking a step back. "Snape... Snape told Voldemort about the prophecy?"

"Yes!" Harry cried. "Snape is the reason Voldemort set out to kill me— the reason our parents died!"

I felt like I'd been stabbed.

Batavia and Katie were looking at me with wide eyes.

"The bottom line," Harry said. "I KNOW— and don't contradict me Beth— Malfoy is going to try something tonight. And Dumbledore won't be here. So we need to watch him and Snape."

Harry shoved the Marauder's Map into my hands.

"You've got to watch him and Snape," he repeated. "PLEASE, Beth. Contact the DA with the Galleons. Dumbledore says he's put extra protection in the school but if Snape's involved he'll know what Dumbledore's protection is, and how to avoid it. He won't be expecting you lot to keep watch."

He turned to me, sighing deeply.

"Take this too," he said, handing me socks.

"What do I need these for?" I asked.

"The Felix Felicis is in them. Split it amongst yourselves and Ginny and Neville, if there's enough," Harry said.

He looked scared, and I nodded slowly.

I pulled him into my arms and kissed his forehead.

"You're going to be okay," I said softly, caressing his face. "You will be."

He nodded and smiled a bit before sprinting out.

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. "Hermione, send the signal on the Galleons. Ron, get Neville, Batavia— get Ginny. We need to gather everyone in my dormitory immediately."

Ron and Batavia sprinted upstairs while Hermione quickly sent the message on the Galleons.

"But Beth!" Katie cried. "What if they don't have the Galleons in their pockets?"

I cursed, and then an idea came into my head.

I took the Galleon from Hermione's hand and took my wand out, pressing it onto the face of the Galleon.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked frantically.

"With any luck," I said, concentrating, "this will make the Galleons glow and make a LOT of noise."

I waved my wand.

Immediately, upstairs was the sound of a loud bell clanging, and I heard Ginny and Batavia shriek.

Instantly, both ran down to see my spell had worked.

"Absolutely brilliant!" Batavia cried, holding her Galleon.

The Galleon was glowing, and had projected into the air the message Hermione had put in.

'Hogwarts unsafe. Need assistance. Meet at Head Girl dormitory.'

When Neville and Ron came down, I quickly distributed the Felix Felicis to everyone present.

I nodded once everyone had taken their portion, and took a deep breath. "Gather anyone else that may be able to help— even if they weren't in the DA. I need to contact the Order."

The others nodded some sprinted upstairs— while Ginny sprinted out of the portrait hole, probably to go let the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs know.

I ran to my dormitory, where the fireplace would be unblocked from communicating with outside sources.

I briefly explained to Warrington what was going on and he quickly began to clean the dormitory so all the DA members would fit once they arrived.

I kneeled before the fire.

"Remus Lupin," I said, waving my wand over the flames.

Immediately after, I stuck my head in the fire.

I blinked a few times then saw the familiar setting that was the home I grew up in.

"Uncle Remus!" I yelled. "Tonks!"

I heard footsteps.

"UNCLE REMUS!" I yelled, even louder.

There was a crash and my godfather nearly fell down the stairs.

"Beth?" He cried. "What— what's going on?"

"Dumbledore and Harry have left in search of a horcrux," I said quickly. "Remember— I told you when I visited you at Christmas?"

He nodded quickly. "Is the school being attacked?"

I bit my lip. "Something is going on— something. I can't really explain it. You need to gather the Order members now and get to Hogwarts."

"You're certain something is wrong?" He asked.

"Yes," I said frantically. "Uncle Remus please hurry."

He nodded and stood up. "I'll alert them immediately— we're on our way, don't worry."

I pulled my head out of the fire and saw DA members had begun to be let in by Warrington.

"What did your godfather say?" Hermione asked, out of breath clearly from having run here.

"Order's on their way, soon," I said, taking off my cloak. "Is— oh God we ARE short quite a few people..."

Angelina, Alicia, and the twins were missing.

"We'll have to make do," I said. "Hurry up, everyone!"

Hermione and Ginny somehow managed to get everyone to sit down around the fire, where I was rubbing my hands nervously.

I wish I could have an update on Harry and Dumbledore's progress.

"I think that's everyone," Hermione said.

I scanned the room and sighed. Not as many people as I would've hoped, but it was something.

"Alright," I said, making everyone quiet down. They looked at me in anticipation.

I stood up on a small stool and clasped my hands tightly together.

"Just to be clear," I began. "I'm not sure exactly what's going on. All we know is that SOMETHING is happening and we need to protect our school. I have a way of locking all the Common Rooms so only teachers may enter as of now— no students. We are on lockdown until further notice because we have reason to believe there is something going on. I will divide you into groups and send you out to specific locations to keep guard. The Order of the Phoenix are on their way and will arrive shortly."

There was a big of a commotion.

"HEY!" I yelled.

That quieted them down.

"You MUST stay serious," I said. "We don't know what to expect. Be alert, if you see a student out in the halls, have someone bring them here— Warrington will stay. No one enters the Common Rooms from this point forward. Do you all understand me?"

Several heads nodded and I nervously cracked my fingers.

Hermione helped me divide the groups so we had people on every floor, in pairs, guarding the many hallways around the school.

"The only floor left to cover is the seventh," Hermione said once people began heading out.

"I have that," I said. "I need to investigate the Room of Requirement either way— do you know if the Order is here?"

"I think they might be at the entrance hall," she said.

I nodded and began to walk out.

Warrington caught me at the door.

"Be careful," he said, wincing a bit.

"Don't worry about me," I said, patting his shoulder. "You just stay here and help anyone that they bring."

He nodded and I headed out.

I went first to the entrance hall, where I found several Order members gathered.

"There is a group of students on every floor except the seventh," I told Mad Eye, who was standing in the center of their circle.

His magical eye whizzed in my direction. "Do you know exactly what's going on? Dumbledore told me earlier he'd need us here."

"Really?" I cried in disbelief. "Well no... I just know something is coming."

He nodded, and waved for me to go.

I looked briefly at Tonks and my godfather, who were nearest to me.

"Where are you going?" My godfather asked.

"I have to go check out the seventh floor," I said. "Just protect the others, please."

"Want one of us to go with you?" Tonks offered.

"I'm good," I insisted. "I'll be right back."

My godfather was about to speak but I simply turned around and began jogging all the way to the seventh floor.

When I reached the usual entrance to the Room of Requirement, the door opened, and I darted to hide behind some pillars.

I saw several Death Eaters go down the hall, and I knew immediately they were headed downstairs.

I took out my Galleon and quickly undid the sound part of the charm before putting in a message that Death Eaters were inside the school, and were currently on the seventh floor.

When the last of them went down the hall, I scurried into the room and peered inside.

I noticed immediately that the Vanishing Closet the twins had shoved Montague into last year was wide open.

I deduced that that had been Draco's other task, and that was how the Death Eaters had entered.

I slipped out and carefully moved down the hall.

I wished I still had Invisibility powers.

When I passed by the Astronomy Tower, I noticed the door was ajar.

As quietly as I could, I crept forward and peeked in.

I saw no one, but I heard voices. I slipped inside and quickly darted behind several boxes.

That's when I happened to look up at the landing, and saw Dumbledore face to face with Draco.

Where was Harry?

"....You found a way to let them in?" Dumbledore inquired.

"Yeah," Draco said, sneering. "Right under your nose and you never realized."

If I had figured out he was going to smuggle Death Eaters in, I could have prevented this.

"Ingenius," Dumbledore said. "Yet, forgive me, where are they now? You seem unsupported."

"They're waiting outside, though I suspect we'll be fighting your guard soon," Draco said. "I-I've got a job to do."

"Draco, Draco. You're not a killer," Dumbledore said.

"You don't know what I'm capable of!" Draco said.

He was not a murderer.

"In fact I do know what you're capable of. You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. You've been trying with increasing desperation to kill me all year. And yet, you still failed to kill me. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts...I wonder whether your heart has been really in it..." Dumbledore said.

"It has been in it!" Draco snapped. "I've been working on it all year and tonight—"

There was a scream far away outside, making me shiver.

The Death Eaters must've met our resistance.

"Perhaps you ought to get on with the job alone," Dumbledore suggested. "What if your backup has been thwarted by my guard? As you perhaps realized, there are members of the Order of the Phoenix here tonight too. And after all, you don't really need help...I have no wand at the moment...I can't defend myself."

Draco stared. He wasn't going to do it.

"I see," Dumbledore said. "You are afraid to act until they join you."

"I'm not afraid! You should be!" Draco spat.

"But why? I don't think you will kill me, Draco. While we wait for your friends...how did you smuggle them in here?" Dumbledore asked.

"I mended the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement. The other is in Borgin and Burke's. They make a passage," Draco said. "It was complex magic but I restored it."

"Very good," Dumbledore mumbled. "So the Death Eaters were able to pass from Borgin and Burkes into the school to help you. A clever plan...clever. As you say, right under my nose."

"And you couldn't figure out who was behind all that stuff," Draco scoffed.

"I did. I was sure it was you," Dumbledore said.

"Why didn't you stop me, then?" Draco asked.

"I tried, Draco," Dumbledore said.

"That clearly didn't work, did it?" Draco snapped.

"Professor Snape and Elizabeth Potter have also been keeping watch over you on my orders," Dumbledore said. Draco laughed wryly.

"Elizabeth Potter," he said. "Well that's not unexpected— there is no way a girl like that could ever care about someone like me, not after everything I did to her and her brother and their friends." Then he stopped, almost as if he didn't believe it. Almost as if he wasn't sure whether I'd truly wanted to be his friend or not. "As for Snape... well he's a double agent, you stupid old man. He isn't working for you, you just think he is! He didn't even know what I was doing in the Room of Requirement, he's going to soon find I will be the Dark Lord's new favorite. He'll be nothing compared to me!"

"We all like appreciation for our own hard work, of course," Dumbledore said. "I assure you Elizabeth actually cared though Draco..."

Draco faltered.

Dumbledore went back to their main point. "But to do all that... you must have had an accomplice, all the same...someone in Hogsmeade...of course, Rosmerta. How long has she been under the Imperius Curse?"

"Got there at last, have you?" Draco said tauntingly. "She's been under for awhile."

"Brilliant. So you Imperiused Rosmerta so she had to pass the necklace onto any Hogwarts student who entered the room unaccompanied?" Dumbledore asked.

"Exactly," Draco said.

"And the poison mead..."

"I knew Slughorn had the bottle and planned to give it to you," Draco said. "I brewed the potion."

"But you didn't know it would work," Dumbledore said.

Draco gritted his teeth. "I asked Elizabeth to check how deadly it was. I was certain it would work. I then of course slipped it int the mead.."

"And then Slughorn would give it to me," Dumbledore said.

"Exactly," Draco repeated.

There was another scream, even louder.

"Someone's dead, by the way. I don't know who but they were yours. I stepped over the body," Draco said.

But how was that possible?

Then I remembered Moody had mentioned that Dumbledore had asked them to be there earlier.

Maybe they had sent a few guards ahead of time...

"Let's discuss our options, Draco," Dumbledore said.

"Options? I'm standing here with a wand, I'm about to kill you!" Draco spat.

"If you were going to kill me, you would have done it when you first disarmed me. There are options," Dumbledore said calmly.

"I haven't got any options!" Draco snarled. "I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill my whole family! If I fail— he'll KILL them!"

I heard movement and crouched down further. Moments later, Bellatrix Lestrange and several other Death Eaters appeared, and stood behind Draco.

"Draco, do it. Now, Draco, quickly!" Bellatrix hissed.

"Bellatrix," Dumbledore said. "Fenrir..."

I bit my lip to stop my teeth from chattering. It was freezing and staring at Fenrir Greyback was terrifying.

Draco raised his wand and pointed it at Dumbledore.

"Your know the spell, boy!" One Death Eater snarled. "Do it!"

Draco was hesitating. He couldn't do it.

Then Professor Snape burst in.

"Severus..." Dumbledore said softly.

"Avada Kedavra!" Snape said. Dumbledore's body flew back over the edge of the tower.

I covered my mouth to stop myself from screaming.

Snape and the other Death Eaters sprinted down the stairs, and I heard more movement behind me.

It was Harry.

"Beth!" He cried. "Dumbledore froze me he—"

He looked at the running Death Eaters.

"Come on!" He yelled.

I didn't hesitate, and immediately sprinted behind him toward the Death Eaters.

Harry was yelling and firing spells the instant we went into the hall.

"That isn't all of them!" I cried, casting a shield charm. "There were four of them plus Snape, Bellatrix, and Draco!"

"Now there's only two and Bellatrix isn't there!" Harry yelled.

I jabbed my wand next to his head and fired a spell, making one of the Death Eaters ahead of us crumple to the floor.

"I wish you still had powers!" Harry yelled as we ran. I saw tears on his cheeks.

"I wish so too!" I cried, realizing I had teared up as well.

I was afraid. George had dreamed Dumbledore and I both had died. What if—

I suddenly felt someone drag me back.

Harry kept running— he hadn't noticed what had happened. I whirled around and threw a punch, only to be greeted by a scream and a kick to the stomach.

I cried out in pain as Bellatrix pinned me to the ground by the throat, and took out her wand.

She bared her disgusting teeth and pressed her knees onto my stomach, making me wheeze.

"You got lucky at the Ministry, didn't you wittle Elizabeth?" She said in her mock baby voice.

I struggled to try and get her off. She punched me then tossed my wand aside.

I spat out blood and gasped as she squeezed my throat harder.

"What?" She asked. "No more powers? Pity..."

She reached into her dress and pulled out her silver knife, and smirked, bringing it to my throat.

"Why don't I finish what I started?" She asked, squeezing harder. I croaked and felt my chest tighten painfully.

"Hmm," she said, licking the blade of the knife. "What to do..."

She took her knees off of me and straddled me, as if contemplating if she should cut my heart or my intestines out.

I seized the opportunity.

I lifted my pelvis quickly and knocked her back, making her loosen her grip on my neck.

I stood up quickly, but in the time it took me to gasp for air, she grabbed me by the hair and slammed me against the wall, pressing her knee into my thigh.

I groaned, and she lifted the knife to my face.

"Clearly you need to be tortured," she hissed icily, pressing the blade to my neck.

I writhed in pain and tried desperately to kick her away from me as I screamed, but didn't succeed.

"Now how about a big boo boo?" She asked, bringing the knife to my stomach.

She raised it and immediately stabbed me, just below my belly button.

I screamed even louder, and felt my body go limp in her arms.

"BELLATRIX!"

I managed to move my head over and see that down the hall, another Death Eater was waving for her to follow him.

She growled and threw me on the floor. She kneeled down and raised her knife and stabbed me in the same spot, then aggressively slid the knife across my stomach.

I wailed loudly, my sobs filling the corridor as I spit out more blood.

Bellatrix stood up and cackled maliciously. She looked for a moment, at all the blood that was pouring out of me.

I began to see her blurry as my consciousness faded, and she licked her lips, smirking.

"We'll finish this later, little Beth," she said, tucking the knife back into her dress. "If you survive."


	75. Chapter 75

At some point that night— or maybe it was the next morning— someone found me.

I vaguely remember someone wrapping their arms around me and lifting me up. I think I may have mumbled something to them, and perhaps they replied, but after that I just remember passing out again.

When I next woke up, I was in the Hospitals Wing.

"Mm," I mumbled, my eyes opening slowly.

"She's awake!" Someone cried. It sounded like Mrs Weasley.

"Beth!" I saw the blurry outline of George leaning over me, and blinked a few times before I could see him clearly.

I tried to speak but found I couldn't move my mouth.

"Don't try to talk!" Madam Pomfrey cried frantically.

Now she tells me. I raised my eyebrow.

Even that was painful.

"Your jaw's been wired shut dear," she said, pushing George aside to change my bandages.

I looked at George with an annoyed face and he nodded.

"She wants to know why," he said.

God, I'm going to marry this man. He knew what I meant and I didn't even say anything.

"Well," Madam Pomfrey said, sighing. She sat at the foot of my bed and I noticed everyone sort of gathered around.

I was overwhelmed at first, seeing the entire Weasley clan, my brother, Hermione, Batavia, Katie, my godfather, Tonks, and Mad Eye Moody gathered around my bed.

"Can a few of you move back?" George asked, waving at them. "She hates crowds."

Definitely husband material.

Most of them moved back except Mr and Mrs Weasley, George, Harry, and my godfather.

Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips. "We don't know exactly how long you were up there Elizabeth. From my calculations based on your blood loss and trachea damage... about two hours."

I blinked and furrowed my eyebrows.

"We didn't find you sooner because Harry didn't notice when you disappeared," George said, looking slightly guilty. "I thought I'd seen you down there with us putting out the fire in Hagrid's Hut—"

My eyes widened.

"—set by the Death Eaters," George said. "Then by the time we realized you were missing, we had so many students running around we couldn't access the stairs. It took us awhile to search... I'm sorry."

I waved my hand and shrugged. It wasn't their fault.

I looked at Madam Pomfrey and waved for her to continue.

"How you survived that long, I have no idea," she said, her voice trembling. "You lost a lot of blood. It's a wonder you even woke up within a week."

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at George.

"It's been four days, love," he said gently. "We didn't know if you were ever going to wake up."

I brought my hands to my face and covered it, groaning slightly.

I absentmindedly tried to form words, but found it still wasn't possible, just like it hadn't been when I tried five minutes ago.

Instead I jabbed an angry finger to my throat.

"I think she wants to know how bad it was," George said.

I nodded.

"Well you lost most of your blood," Madam Pomfrey said. "Your trachea was damaged pretty bad— I had to put in a tube and a wire, which is why you can't talk."

I felt my throat and sighed, then pointed at my bandages.

Madam Pomfrey paled. "You were incredibly lucky no vital organs were damaged. But... Elizabeth..."

She looked back at the others and drew the curtain. Mrs Weasley furrowed her eyebrows.

"Your uterus was very damaged," Madam Pomfrey said softly once she sat down again. "I wasn't able to fully fix it."

I cocked my head to the side.

"But it still works?" Mrs Weasley asked in confusion. "She doesn't need it removed?"

"It partly works," Madam Pomfrey said. "It can still sort of do its usual monthly functions— although that will be more painful. But Elizabeth...."

God, just tell me.

She took my hand and looked slightly at George. "You can't have children. Carrying a child isn't possible."

I felt my chest tighten, and I blinked, still struggling to understand.

George squeezed my other hand.

"So," he said slowly, "she can't have kids?"

"No," Madam Pomfrey said. "If you did manage to even get pregnant, it would automatically be an ectopic pregnancy, and that could kill you."

I breathed heavily and squeezed my eyes shut.

I couldn't even look at George.

I felt him squeeze my hand and I opened my eyes.

I looked right at Madam Pomfrey and pointed at my throat again.

"She wants to know when that will come off," George said quietly.

"Next week," Madam Pomfrey said.

I made a my hand look like it was talking.

Madam Pomfrey winced. "Well Beth you... you won't be able to talk for awhile. You still have a lot of damage. I think it's safer to leave it there until your throat heals enough for you to talk."

I frowned and looked at George.

"So she won't be able to talk at graduation?" George asked. "But— she's giving a speech."

Mrs Weasley looked like she might cry.

Madam Pomfrey sighed. "I'm sorry Elizabeth, someone else will have to do your speech. You won't be able to."

I shook my head and held back tears.

In an attempt to sort of change the subject, I lifted my leg and pointed at it.

"She wants to know if she's going to be able to walk by Friday," George said.

Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Yes you can start walking tomorrow."

She then went to her desk and returned with a small folded piece of parchment.

"From Dumbledore," she said softly.

I looked up at the others and their faces became sad.

"We saw Snape kill him," Harry mumbled. "She was there."

He turned to me. "The funeral is tomorrow."

The day before my graduation. Lovely.

I winced and shook my head, my lip trembling.

"We should let her rest," Madam Pomfrey suggested.

Mr and Mrs Weasley got up and went toward another bed, where I could now see held Bill.

My godfather came closer and took my hand.

"It's not the worst thing in the world," he said quietly. He looked up at George. "I know maybe you'd have preferred to have your own kids but adopting isn't bad."

I nodded miserably and slumped back into my pillow.

Yeah we could adopt, and they'd be our kids all the same.

But I wanted kids of my own too— little redheads that might inherit the powers I once had. Natural born pranksters.

I knew it would be fine in the end. We could adopt redheads and George could teach them to prank. They'd be safer without powers like mine.

It just hurt that the one thing I wanted had a flaw in it.

George and Harry were shooed away and I took the opportunity to open the piece of parchment.

I couldn't believe that Dumbledore had left me a letter with two sentences written on it— just a plea for me not to tell Harry that I'd already known Snape would kill him. In anger, I crumpled the letter.

More tears stung in my eyes.

Why should I keep that a secret? What difference would it make? Harry would find out eventually— Dumbledore himself had said that.

Everything was going to shit.

I heard a small groan and turned to where everyone was now gathered around Bill's bed.

His face was scarred all across the cheeks. He was clearly in a lot of pain, and Fleur was staring at him with worry lines etched on her face.

"You said Greyback attacked him?" Mrs Weasley asked McGonagall, who I'd just noticed was standing in the crowd. "But he hasn't transformed? So what does that mean? What will happen to Bill?"

"We don't yet know," McGonagall said quietly. "We'll know more once he wakes up."

So he hadn't woken up.

"There will probably be some contamination, Molly," my godfather said. "It is an odd case, possibly unique...We don't know what his behavior might be like when he awakens— as Professor McGonagall said, we will know more once he awakens."

Mrs Weasley grabbed some ointment and put it into a towel, dabbing it on Bill's wounds. Mr Weasley breathed unsteadily.

"And now Dumbledore's gone," Mrs Weasley said, looking at her husband. "I still can't believe..."

"None of us can," McGonagall said quietly. "It... it's unbelievable."

I shivered at the thought.

Mrs Weasley looked at Bill and started crying. "Of course it doesn't matter how he looks...It's not r-really important...but he was a very handsome little b-boy...always very handsome...and he was g-going to be married!"

Fleur looked at me, and when she noticed I was paying attention, she scowled slightly.

Then she turned back to Mrs Weasley.

"And what do you mean by zat? What do you mean, 'he was going to be married'?" Fleur said.

"Well—" Mrs Weasley began.

"You theenk Bill will not wish to marry me anymore?" Fleur demanded. "You theenk, because of these bites, he will not love me?"

I stared at Mrs Weasley, who was hesitating to speak.

"No that's not what I—"

"Because 'e will! It will take more zan a werewolf to stop Bill loving me!" Fleur said. Ginny was rolling her eyes.

"Well yes," Mum said. "But I thought perhaps— given how— how he—"

"You thought I would not weesh to marry him? Or per'aps you hoped?" Fleur asked. "What do I care 'ow he looks? I'm good looking enough for the both of us, I theenk. All these scars show my husband is brave! And I shall do zat!"

She snatched the towel from Mrs Weasley and started dabbing Bill's face lovingly. Mrs Weasley stifled another sob.

"Our Great Auntie Muriel," Mrs Weasley said slowly. "Has a very beautiful tiara— goblin made— which I am sure I could persuade her to lend you for the wedding. She is very fond of Bill, you know, and it would look lovely with your hair."

Fleur flashed me a smirk.

"Thank you, that will be lovely," she said stiffly. Next thing I knew, Mrs Weasley and Fleur had rushed forward and embraced each other, sobbing. Ginny and Hermione looked at me with confusion and Harry and Ron just shrugged it off.

"See!" Tonks said to my godfather. "She still wants to marry him, even though he's been bitten! She doesn't care!"

I raised an eyebrow and snapped my fingers.

Tonks looked at me and then cast a sideways glare at my godfather.

"He doesn't want us to get married," she said boldly.

I looked at my godfather and frowned, shaking my head. I pointed at him, made a heart, then pointed at Tonks. Then I lifted my hand and pointed at my promise ring, which somehow was still on my finger.

My godfather looked like he'd been punched.

"See?" Tonks hissed. "Remus..."

My godfather winced and sighed, his lip trembling.

He waved for Tonks to follow him and they left the Hospital Wing.

"Please— they need to rest," Madam Pomfrey insisted. "Everyone out."

Fleur remained rooted in her chair, and Madam Pomfrey gave up trying to shoo her out. Mr and Mrs Weasley left, Ron, Fred, and Ginny trotting behind them.

Harry nodded to me before heading out behind the others, Hermione at his heels.

"Mr Weasley," Madam Pomfrey said sternly to George.

"Can I stay, please?" He said, taking my hand.

Madam Pomfrey looked at me as if waiting for me to state my approval. I nodded quickly and she sighed.

"You may stay," she said to George.

George smiled, and once Madam Pomfrey went to her office, he motioned for me to scoot over.

I did and he sat beside me, wrapping his arms around me.

I leaned into his chest and let out a deep sigh.

"I'm glad you're not hurt too badly," he whispered. "I-I was so scared that my dream would be real..."

I nodded in understanding.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there..."

I shrugged, and he shuddered.

"I should have noticed you weren't there," he said, now tearing up. "It's my fault you were up there so long... by yourself... B-Beth I'm s-sorry..."

As a tear flowed down his cheek I patted his hand and shrugged again.

He winced. I looked at him sadly.

"I love you," he said, pulling me closer to him and kissing my forehead.

I instinctively put my hand on my stomach.

"Well," he said, clearly trying to alleviate the tension. "At least now you can't end up like your mum."

I looked up at him, a frown on my face.

"Too soon?" He asked, his smile fading. I nodded.

I closed my eyes and heard him let out a shaky breath.

"I thought I lost you," he said.

I patted his leg.

"I love you," he said again.

I raised my eyebrows and pointed at my stomach again.

George's eyes widened. "Don't be stupid Beth. I wouldn't love you any less because we can't have kids..."

I winced and held up three fingers.

He laughed lightly. "I want to have three kids with you, yes. But it doesn't matter if those three kids have the same genes as us... what matters is that we parent them together and teach them how to be badass Quidditch players. Our sons will be Weasleys through and through even if they're not redheads. Our daughter will be beautiful like you, even if she doesn't have your eyes or your exact face. What makes them our kids is that we love them and will do anything for them."

My lip trembled and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"I know we'd both have loved the whole pregnancy experience," George whispered, stroking my hair. "Finding out we were going to be parents and picking baby clothes and names.. But I don't love you any less because you're damaged, in fact I love you more because you're a fighter, and I'll be able to tell our kids how strong their mother is."

I shivered and he wrapped his arms tighter around me.

I still felt like a part of me was lost.

The door opened and Hermione, Harry, and Ron reentered the room.

"I wanted to tell you all at once," Harry said quietly as they gathered around my bed, "that Dumbledore and I didn't get a horcrux."

I felt my heart drop.

Hermione and Ron's expressions faded.

"You didn't get it? It wasn't there?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"No," Harry said glumly. "Someone had already taken it and left a fake in its place."

"Already taken?" Hermione stammered.

Harry reached into his pocket and took out a locket with a note. He passed it around for everyone to read. George didn't seem to enjoy the contents of the note.

"RAB? Who on Earth?" George mumbled. "I have never heard of anyone with those initials."

"I dunno what it is. But we need to find out, because whoever they are they have the real Horcrux— whether they're dead or alive I don't know," Harry said.

He sighed. "We'll talk more after the graduation, okay? You rest."

I nodded slowly and they left, leaving me to fall asleep in George's arms.

______

The rest of the week passed slowly. Everyone was in mourning, no one happy about anything.

I attended Dumbledore's funeral the next day, feeling an emptiness inside me.

I couldn't tell everyone to stop trash talking Snape. I couldn't tell them that this had been part of a major plan of Dumbledore's.

I sat with Harry and George, although I was forced into a wheelchair by Madam Pomfrey, who said that because I'd been unable to walk more than ten feet without getting tired that morning, I wasn't cleared to walk.

I got a lot of stares.

I had yet to see my face, but I knew it was probably still a little bruised, and what with my jaw wired shut, I probably looked like an idiot.

Some people offered Harry and I their condolences. Everyone knew we were witnesses.

Some expressed pity for my condition and wished me a speedy recovery.

All I could think about was that Dumbledore now lay in a white tomb on the Hogwarts grounds.

Our graduation was the last day of the term, and it was meant to be a happy day... except it wasn't.

Although I was able to walk, I still couldn't stand properly, and moving my hips and legs was just overall painful.

It was hurt for me to put on my dress that morning, but Batavia and Katie managed to help me into it.

"As always," Batavia said, helping me put my robes on. "So beautiful, Beth."

Katie leaned on my shoulder, and rubbed my back. She held up a mirror and I sighed.

I didn't feel beautiful.

My eye still had faded bruises on it.

I definitely did look like an idiot with my jaw set in that manner.

My hair was still as short as I'd cut it back before the Yule Ball, and it was probably the only thing that made me feel somewhat pretty.

I patted my eyes and shrugged.

"We're all going to be crying," Batavia noted.

She was holding a picture frame with Bixby's picture in it.

I felt my chest tighten.

After a lot of struggling with heels, we decided it was just safer for me to wear sandals.

Batavia and Katie wrapped their arms around me and helped me all the way out to the grounds, where we set up to walk out in our two lines, just as we rehearsed the day before— after Dumbledore's funeral.

I hated that we all felt horrible. I had been dreaming about this day for years, and I couldn't even bring it upon myself to smile.

McGonagall took Dumbledore's place at the podium.

"Welcome," she said once we'd all taken a seat.

There were supposed to be forty of us in the seats.

There were only thirty nine.

"I'm glad you were able to attend this important event today," McGonagall continued, looking around at our audience. "Today marks a milestone your children have completed. Seven years learning about the world they live in and all the skills they may need upon entering the real world as adults."

McGonagall shuffled some pieces of parchment around. "Before we present the diplomas, our Head Boy, Mr Cassius Warrington, has a speech he would like to share."

I smiled, glad to see Warrington had taken my place for the speech.

He walked up to the podium and smiled to the crowd.

"I think," He began, gripping the edges of the podium, "that I speak for everyone when I say, 'thank you, to everyone who helped us on this journey.'"

I looked into the crowd and saw George smiling at me from his seat beside Harry.

Warrington looked down at the parchment and then back up.

"I'm sorry," he said. "This is actually Beth's speech and I didn't get a chance to memorize it."

Some nervous laughter rang out.

Warrington sighed and looked up.

"I'll wing it," he announced. "Just like I winged every test I ever took."

More people laughed. He was trying to ease the tension.

"If there is one thing Hogwarts has taught me," he said, "it's that we all have it in us. The definition of 'it' however, seems to have lost its meaning. We all seem to believe that when someone tells us we have it in us, it means we have the ability to make it though. But I believe that the founders of Hogwarts meant for it to have a greater meaning. I think, upon establishing our school and the separate Houses, they meant for us to get along and have all the traits of the other Houses we were not in. This year has taught me that I can be friends with people from Gryffindor."

He smiled at me.

"From Ravenclaw," he said, blowing a kiss to Luna, who sat a few seats behind George. "And Hufflepuff." He waved at a boy in our grade seated near the front.

"I think we need to form a new definition of 'it,'" he said. "I think it should mean we are all cunning. All brave. All brilliant. All humble. 'It' should mean we hold traits of all the Houses within us. We all have IT in us. We all have those traits. Although we were sorted into different Houses, we are all very much the same. I didn't use to believe that. I used to think I was just Slytherin. Now I know I can be a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff, if I set my mind to it. Hogwarts taught me that we should set aside the barriers we encounter and seek to be a whole person with all those traits, and make friends with those who are not in our House. I think we need to destroy the stereotypes and biases that come with Houses. Because I for one don't think I'm evil. And I have Beth to thank for that."

I looked up, a bit startled.

"When I began this year I had no idea what I wanted to be," he said. "But Beth's energy is contagious. She accepted me as a friend even when I was a Slytherin and she a Gryffindor. Now I'm in love with one of the sweetest Ravenclaw girls" the crowd giggled "and I've decided on a profession that makes me happy. THAT is it. Acceptance. Hogwarts, you told me I had it in me, and that may have meant I had what it takes to finish these seven years, but I know it also means I had all these traits in me and the secret to unlocking them was acceptance. I know many, if not all of you, have unlocked your full capabilities these past seven years and you all have these traits that make you excel."

The crowd began to clap, but Warrington held his hand up.

"I would like," he said. "To make a dedication."

We were silent.

"To Bixby Hoganson," he said. "Whose bravery allowed us to finish here safely, and whose sacrifice will never be forgotten. The plaque with his name in the entrance hall will remain there for generations to come. He is here, graduating with us, and he had IT. He had it. I have never known a more amazing person in my life and I wish I had gotten a chance to know him more personally."

Batavia and Katie were in tears beside me, and I wrapped my arms around them.

"Congratulations, class of 1997!" Warrington finished.

There was a cheer, and McGonagall took the podium again.

"He really winged it didn't he?" Katie asked, wiping her eyes. "I'm not sure I fully understood what he was talking about b-but it was beautiful..."

McGonagall cleared her throat.

"It is time to present, an award," McGonagall said. I could see tears in her eyes. "This award has been given to the student who most demonstrated integrity, intelligence, dedication, diligence, and overall excellence in their seven years at Hogwarts. All of the Professors have nominated a student for this award, and this particular year it would seem they are all in agreement of who should receive it. The Founder's Award for Outstanding Magic Achievement for this year, 1997, goes to... Miss Elizabeth Potter."

Batavia and Katie screamed immediately, and they ambushed me with a hug.

"Go up!" Batavia cried. I pointed at my throat. I couldn't accept an award without giving a speech.

"I got it," Warrington said, patting my shoulder as he passed by.

I nodded and smiled as he reached the podium.

"Well," he said. "I'm up here on behalf of my good friend Elizabeth Potter. The other night, as you all know, there was a situation. She took matters into her own hands and gathered a student force to defend the school. She went by herself to investigate a matter and fought bravely against dangerous forces. That's one of the many reasons that I'm so very, very proud to call her my colleague and my friend."

I felt tears in my eyes.

"Now Beth has experienced more loss in her life than I think most of us would deem fair," he said. "She lost her parents, James and Lily Potter, who I know would have loved to be here, watching their daughter graduate. She lost her best friend, Cedric Diggory, who I know was en route to do great things with his life before his passing. She lost her other best friend, Bixby Hoganson, who would have been graduating beside us if he hadn't been taken from us so young. She lost a man who was like a father to her, Sirius Black, who would have been so incredibly proud to see his niece up on this stage today. The thing about Beth is, that she doesn't let it get to her. She takes all that pain, all that loss, and she turns it into drive. Drive to be a good teacher, a good student, a good sister, a good friend. Despite all that she's lost, she continued to find joy in her work as Head Girl, Quidditch Captain, leader of Dumbledore's Army. She did not give up, even when it got difficult. I don't think I could have made it past those tasks in the Triwizard like she did, and I don't think that I would still be sane if I went through everything she did. She has managed to be energetic and joyful, and spread that joy through her determination to help others, and has succeeded at being our symbol of hope right in the face of darkness."

He looked at me, and I noticed he was crying too.

"I am," he said in a shaky voice, "profoundly grateful for the lessons that I have learned from Elizabeth Potter, and it is my distinct honor to accept this award on her behalf."

The crowd clapped, and a sobbing Batavia and Katie wrapped their arms tighter around me.

Warrington walked over to me and handed me a trophy.

I looked at him and smiled, despite the fact tears were practically pouring out of my eyes.

"You're welcome," he said, hugging me and kissing my forehead.

"And now without further ado," McGonagall said. "The presentation of diplomas!"

It went quickly, and I wish it hadn't.

"Katie Bell!" McGonagall announced. "Future Healer."

We all clapped as Katie walked across the stage and took her diploma, and hugged McGonagall.

"Batavia Hoganson! Future MACUSA diplomat for the Ministry of Magic!"

Batavia giggled and went to accept her certificate.

I didn't want to think of the fact that she'd be moving to America.

"Elizabeth Potter!"

I walked up slowly. McGonagall threw her arms around me.

"I am so proud of you," she whispered as she handed me my diploma. Then she looked up. "Future Auror!"

"YEAH!" George screamed from the crowd. "THAT'S MY GIRLFRIEND!"

I covered my face and giggled slightly as I took my seat.

"Cassius Warrington!" McGonagall finished. "Future Magizoologist!"

Luna's distinct cheer sounded and I clapped as hard as I could.

McGonagall took her place at the podium again. "It is an honor for me to tell you all, congratulations, class of 1997!"

Batavia and Katie ambushed me into another hug as everyone cheered around me.

Batavia pulled away and she was in tears.

"I-I'm g-going to m-miss you g-guys so m-much," she sobbed. Katie hugged her.

I took out my wand and waved it, so words floated above us.

Batavia laughed lightly, and read the message. "Remember... it's not g-g-goodbye—"

She burst into more tears and hugged me.

I was going to miss them all so much.

I didn't even know when I would ever see them again.

But it was like George had said, right?

It wasn't goodbye. It's 'I'll see you later.'


	76. Chapter 76

"I was definitely not expecting this many of you."

I shrugged and walked in, hand in hand with George.

"Change of plan," Mad Eye Moody growled. He checked his watch and grunted.

"Guess what Harry!" Tonks said, holding up her hand to reveal a ring.

"You got married!" He said, looking at my godfather, who nodded.

"Sorry you couldn't attend," he said. "But Beth took a... what is it called?"

"A video," I said. "I got a video camera from a Muggle store like five minutes before I had to be the flower girl. Very cute."

Harry smiled. "Well congratulations.... now can someone explain to me why there are thirteen people in my house?"

Everyone began to speak at once.

"Alright, settle down," Mad Eye said gruffly. He turned to Harry. "We've had to abandon Plan A. Pius Thicknesse has gone over, which gives us a big problem. He's made it an imprisonable offense to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here, or Apparate in or out. All done in the name of your protection, to prevent You Know Who getting in at you. Pointless since your mother's charm does that already. You're also still underage which means you've still got the Trace around you."

"I don't—" Harry began.

"The Trace, the Trace!" Mad Eye said. "If you or anyone casts a spell around here, Thicknesse and the Death Eaters will know. We can't wait for the Trace to break, because the moment you turn seventeen you'll lose all the protection your mother gave you. In short: Pius Thicknesse thinks he's got you cornered good and proper."

"So what are we doing?" Harry asked.

"Only methods the Trace can't detect— brooms, thestrals, and Hagrid's motorbike," Mad Eye said. "The Death Eaters think you're not leaving til the thirteenth but You Know Who is bound to have some of his people patrolling the area. So, we've given a dozen different houses every protection we can throw at them. They all look like they could be a place we're going to hide you, a place with some connection with the Order. You'll be going to Tonks' parents."

"Fourteen of us fly to Tonks' parents?" Harry asked.

"No, there will be seven Harry Potters in the sky, each with a companion, each pair heading for a different safe house."

"I won't let you do that!" Harry said angrily.

I handed Hermione a Galleon. Harry stared at me indignantly.

"I told her you'd take it like this," I said. I looked at my brother. "Harry—"

"No!" He cried. "If you think I'm going to let six people risk their lives—"

"—wouldn't be the first time," I said.

"This is different, pretending to be me—" Harry said.

"None of us really fancy it Harry," Fred said earnestly.

"Imagine if something went wrong—" George said.

"—and we were stuck as specky scrawny gits forever," Fred finished.

George and I laughed but Harry didn't.

"You can't do it if I don't cooperate," he said.

"Of course we couldn't," George said sarcastically.

"Thirteen against one aren't very nice odds," Fred said.

"Plus you can't use magic," George added.

"Everyone's overage and prepared to take the risk," Mad Eye said impatiently.

Harry mumbled some curse words and plucked some hair out, dropping it into the open vial of Polyjuice Potion that Moody had taken out.

"Alright Fake Potters line up here," Moody barked.

Mundungus Fletcher, the twins, Ron, Hermione, and Fleur lined up.

"Wait a minute," Harry said, looking at me. "You're not turning into me—?"

"That's part of the plan, you'll see," I said, winking.

The others took the poly juice potion and transformed, then quickly changed their clothes.

"Wow— we're identical!" Fred and George said.

I gasped dramatically. "Where is my boyfriend?"

The one I can assume was George came forward.

"I'd kiss you but that'd look very weird," he said, winking as I handed him glasses.

"Yes it would," I said.

"Now listen up!" Mad Eye yelled. "Assignments. Hermione—"

She raised her hand.

"With Kingsley. You'll go by thestral."

Even though she looked like my brother, I could see the typical grateful look on Hermione's face.

She preferred this to flying on a broom.

"Fleur! With Bill, also by thestral."

The Harry that was Fleur waved at me before going to stand beside Bill."

"George," Mad Eye said. He raised his hand. "With Remus and Elizabeth— via broom."

"Wait what?" Harry said. "Why does he get two people?"

"Our hope," Mad Eye said, "is that they'll expect the real Harry Potter to a) be on a broomstick, since that's your strong suit, b) have extra protection, and c) be with your sister."

"They'll recognize Beth right away!" Harry cried. "They'll get attacked immediately."

"If it'll stop them from figuring out where you are, we're willing to take that risk," George said, smiling a bit.

Harry didn't look too pleased.

"Now Fred with Arthur— on broom. Ron— with Tonks, also on broom. Mundungus you'll be with me on broom and Harry... with Hagrid on his motorbike."

"Remember!" Mad Eye said once we'd split into our groups. "You broomstick flyers, we're betting the Death Eaters will choose whichever Potter looks at home on a broomstick."

He then drew several cages with stuffed owls.

"Who's taking the real Hedwig?" Harry asked frantically.

"Me," I said. "We're putting extra emphasis on George to make it seem like he's the real you."

"You can't take that risk!" Harry yelled, looking very worried.

"It's fine, mate," George said. "We'll be okay."

Harry looked at George a bit uncertainly.

"Come on mate!" George sighed. "When are you going to trust me? I'm not going to let your sister get hurt."

"I-it's not that I don't trust you," Harry said quickly, looking between George and I. "Just... thank you."

George looked at me then back at Harry and smiled.

"No problem," he said, taking my hand and leading us out.

"Good luck everyone, see you all in about an hour at the Burrow," Moody said as we all took our positions. "On three. One, two, THREE."

With the real Hedwig in hand, I kicked off the ground.

Almost immediately we were surrounded by Death Eaters.

"They've been informed!" My godfather said, letting out a string of curse words as he, George, and I took off due west.

"THERE'S THE GIRL!"

"On a good note, they've noticed you," George said as I flew into our formation, my godfather closing in on the other side of George.

"And they do seem to believe you're Harry," my godfather noticed.

"Just use Expelliarmus or something that's Harry's signature move," I said, sticking my wand over my shoulder to cast a hex on an oncoming Death Eater. "Woops... he fell."

"More like hooray," George said, leaning down as we picked up more speed.

"Not so fast George!" My godfather hissed as he stunned a Death Eater. "If we go to fast we won't see them throwing hexes at us."

George nodded and slowed down slightly.

Hedwig was screeching inside her cage as it was tucked under my arm.

"Let that bloody owl out," George groaned. "She's giving me a headache."

"Harry had headaches all of his fifth year!" I said, slashing my wand in the air. "You're just like him!"

George made a sound that I can only assume was meant to be nervous laughter.

"Damn it!" My godfather snarled, barely managing to cast a protective charm over us as several Killing Curses blasted our way. "There's so many of them!"

I looked over my shoulder and cursed.

I quickly opened Hedwig's cage and cast a protective spell over her as she flew away, then threw the cage down.

"George, hold me," I mumbled, throwing my right leg to meet my left on the other side of my broom.

"ELIZABETH POTTER," my godfather hissed. "What are you—"

George held my broom steady as I turned to face the opposite way, now with good view of the Death Eaters.

I raised my wand and began firing hexes and curses like mad, George steering me.

"George slow down!" My godfather pleaded as he shot another curse over his shoulder. "She'll fall—"

"Uncle Remus just make sure he doesn't drop me, it's fine!" I yelled as I gave a sharp jab, causing a small explosion that knocked two Death Eaters into each other and out of the sky.

"Elizabeth turn around!"

I growled and cast another curse. "No— there's too many of them I can't—"

"Elizabeth—"

The instant I took to look at him out of the corner of my eye was too long.

"SECTUMSEMPRA!"

I didn't manage to block the curse.

It collided with George's head and he yelled out in pain, and his grip on my broom loosened.

George's broom went into a sharp incline and began plummeting down as he slumped against his arms.

My godfather cursed, and dove down after him.

I frantically threw my leg over the other end of the broom in an attempt to get onto my broom properly.

Just as I moved my hips forward, the Death Eaters made another move.

I felt the pain before I even realized they'd started firing again. I cried out, and my body slipped.

"NO— NO— NO!" I screamed as my entire pelvis swung down and I fell off the broom. My hands barely managed to hold the handle as the broom plummeted toward the ground.

"ELIZABETH!"

As I tried desperately to get my leg back over the broom, I saw my godfather was barely holding George onto his broom. Blood was leaking out of the side of his head at a massive rate.

"George!" I yelled, swinging my legs as high as I could to try and get back onto my broom.

"Elizabeth hang on!" My godfather yelled.

I whimpered and looked down.

If I didn't get back on soon I would die on impact.

I threw my leg up again, and succeeded in wrapping my ankle over the end of the broom.

But the ground was coming too fast. Just as I managed to throw my body back onto the broom and looked to where I was headed, I crashed straight into the grass.

I landed in my face, my arms sprawled out. My legs flipped over my back and I heard a loud snap, causing me to scream so loud I felt my vocal cords burn.

"ELIZABETH! ELIZABETH!"

I gasped, and looked up to see my legs in front of me with my feet pointed upwards.

That was probably not good.

I croaked, and reached a shaky hand out. Maybe I could throw my legs back to where they should be...

I heard loud footsteps behind me and prepared for the worst.

"BETH! OH GOD BETH!"

It was Bill.

"Oh Bill! Oh no... Iz... Iz she going to be able to walk again?"

That was Fleur.

"I don't know!" Bill said. He ran over to where my face was. "Beth! Beth can you see me?"

"Mhm," I whimpered, feeling my eyes welling up with tears.

Bill touched one of my feet and I screamed.

"Okay," he said, tapping the other and making me scream again. "You're not paralyzed... I think you may have just dislocated your hips REALLY badly..."

"Safe house," I mumbled, my vision blurring. "What— where—"

"Ours is right here," he said, looking up. "You got lucky— you landed right inside the protected zone. Otherwise the Death Eaters would have come and finished you off..."

He slowly lifted my legs, and I screamed again.

"Oh Bill!" I heard Fleur cry. "You should not move 'er... it iz not safe... you can 'urt 'er—"

"I can set her hips, don't worry," Bill assured her. He looked me dead in the eye. "This is probably going to hurt so much you will pass out. But this is the only way I can make sure you don't end up paralyzed. You ready?"

I nodded quickly, my tears obstructing my vision. "J-Just d-do i-i-it..."

He gripped my ankles and snapped my legs back.

I passed out almost immediately.

_________

I woke up and felt pain again.

I let out a soft shriek and suddenly there were people EVERYWHERE.

"Elizabeth!" My godfather cried, running to my side. "Oh my God—"

"George—" I croaked, turning my head. "Where's— George—"

"Right here," he said, motioning to my side.

I realized I was on the couch in the Burrow. George was on the floor right beside the couch, and next to him Harry sat, looking incredibly worried.

"Harry?" I mumbled.

"This is all my fault," he said, his eyes wide. "I-If we hadn't put so much emphasis on G-George being m-me..."

"They'll both be okay," Bill said, coming in from the kitchen, his arm around Fleur. "It might take awhile for Beth to walk and for George to hear properly..."

"Hear?" I cried. "What—"

"His ear got cursed off," Ginny said softly.

"No!" I said, my lip trembling as I looked at George, who was still entirely unconscious.

"He lost consciousness right before we reached the safe house," My godfather said. "We got lucky the Death Eaters left..."

He looked at Harry and I furrowed my eyebrows.

The door was thrown open and my godfather ran to greet Hermione and Kingsley.

"What happened?" I asked, seeing Harry looked even more distressed.

My godfather shuffled over as Mrs Weasley bent down to put a cool cloth on my head. "Harry behaved too kindly to Stan Shunpike."

"What?" I gasped. "But HOW—"

"He disarmed him instead of firing a curse," Kingsley said, shaking his head. "The Death Eaters KNOW Harry knew Stan..."

I felt a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.  
  


"Just use Expelliarmus or something that's Harry's signature move," I said, sticking my wand over my shoulder to cast a hex on an oncoming Death Eater. "Woops... he fell."  
  


I had been joking. But it was exactly what had happened.

"I'm sorry," Harry said quietly. I winced and he covered his face. Ginny sat beside him and rubbed his back.

"What happened to George?" I heard Kingsley ask.

"Lost an ear," my godfather said.

"Lost an..." Hermione said in a high pitched voice.

"Snape's work," my godfather replied.

"What?" I cried. "But—"

"His hood came off after you fell— I saw him," My godfather said. "And well, Sectumsempra was always a specialty of Snape's. I wish I could say I paid him back in kind but all I could do was keep George on the broom after he was injured, he was losing so much blood..."

I bit my lip.

If I had just reacted faster, George would not be hurt— and for the record, neither would I.

The next time the door opened, it was Mr Weasley and Fred.

"Out of my way!" Mr Weasley snapped as Kingsley tried to question him. He rushed forward and kneeled beside George.

"Arthur!" Mrs Weasley sobbed. "Oh thank goodness."

"How are they?" Mr Weasley asked, touching George's face softly.

"He's alive," Mrs Weasley said, her voice quivering.

Mr Weasley nodded, then looked at me. "I saw it— you fall— but we couldn't stop...."

"It's fine," I said quickly. "Bill and Fleur got to me..."

I heard a soft groan.

"George!" I cried, seeing his eyes flutter open.

Fred sat on the edge of the couch and leaned over George.

"How do you feel Georgie?" He asked quietly.

"Saintlike," George said. Fred gasped in horror.

"Is his mind affected?" He asked.

George looked at me and winked, then puckered his lips. "I'm saintlike, baby. You see...I'm holy. Holey. Fred, Beth, geddit?"

Fred and I laughed nervously.

"Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear related humor before you, you go for holey?" Fred asked.

"Ah well, now you can tell us apart Mum," George said, looking at Mrs Weasley. He turned back to me. "Do you think our kids would be scared of their dad if he just has a hole on the side of his head?"

I covered my mouth to suppress a nervous giggle and blinked away tears.

"They'll just think their dad is a hero," I noted, making George smile.

"I want so many kids," he sighed, looking at his mother. "I like babies."

Mrs Weasley rolled her eyes and smiled. "George just... rest..."

He giggled.

"He might be a little loopy for a bit," my godfather said, wincing as he scratched the back of his head.

"I can tell," I said, seeing George looking up at me.

"You're pretty," he said, reaching an arm out. "Do you want to go on a date with me?"

"She's gone on many dates with you, Georgie," Fred said, looking at me and raising an eyebrow.

George gasped dramatically. "Are you my wife?"

"Not yet she isn't!" Fred said before I could respond. Mr and Mrs Weasley laughed when George smiled like an idiot.

"What's taken me so long?" He sighed. "Anyone... have a ring... a nice ring.... she's wearing a ring..."

"It's the promise ring you gave me," I said, unable to contain my giggles.

George sighed. "I'll get a ring... another ring..."

"Well at least he isn't admitting any dark secrets," Fred said. "He'll be okay."

"Yeah he will be," I said, smiling. "I just didn't think I'd be proposed to like this... almost makes the pain go away."

After awhile Tonks and Ron finally arrived.

My godfather at last seemed to be a bit more relaxed, and I was happy to see him embrace Tonks so passionately.

Hermione was who surprised me.

She fussed over Ron so much it was really unbelievable that the two idiots had no idea they liked each other.

Silly.

Kingsley didn't stay long afterwards, and once he saw George and I were okay, he left.

The only problem was Mad Eye Moody and Mundungus still weren't back.

"Still no sign of Mad Eye..." Bill said solemnly after going outside to check.

"Mundungus is a slimy git," Fred mumbled. "Do we even know if he's fully into our cause?"

"Mundungus doesn't strike me as a Death Eater," I said. "He's too much of a scaredy cat. Honestly the only possible scenario is that he got anxious and freaked and caused a huge set back..."

"What if he was the one that betrayed us?" George asked. "We know it was... someone."

Harry looked shocked.

"I-I don't believe anyone here would have betrayed me," Harry said immediately. "I mean Beth you're my sister. All of you are... my family. I trust all of you—"

"You're a fool," my godfather muttered.

There was silence.

"You think I'm a fool?" Harry asked sharply.

"No, I think you're like James," my godfather said, staring fixedly at Harry. "Who would have regarded it as the height of dishonor to mistrust his friends."

Harry gritted his teeth. "Well—"

"I think," I said quickly, before Harry could snap at my godfather. "I think these times are difficult—"

"Oh, are they?" George said thoughtfully.

"Shh," I said, the corner of my mouth twitching. "I mean now more than ever we need to be cautious. We can't trust everyone. Obviously the people in this house at this moment... yes. But we still need to ask questions to make sure it's really them— especially if we go short or long periods of time without seeing each other. We need to have trust issues. Okay?"

Harry sighed and covered his face.

"I'm going to search for Mad Eye," my godfather grumbled.

"I'll come," Bill offered.

"I've got to go too," Harry said.

"Don't be silly Harry," Mrs Weasley said. "What are you talking about?"

"I can't stay here," he said. "You're in danger with me here—"

"We just went through danger Harry, it really can't get worse," I said. "I mean— George lost an ear. I was almost left paralyzed. Please— we did not go through all that for you to just go throw yourself into the open."

Harry opened his mouth to protest.

Mrs Weasley cut him off. "The whole point of tonight was to get you here safely, and it worked. Fleur and Bill are getting married here and everything's arranged so we can stay together. Harry dear..."

"If he finds out I'm here—"

"He won't," I said. "You could be anywhere and they know that. I mean they thought George was actually you for a long time. And Mad Eye wouldn't want—"

"I KNOW!" Harry bellowed.

There was silence.

I took a deep breath.

"Need more pillows, Beth?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"I'm good," I said quietly. I looked around. "So... what was it you guys mentioned about Voldemort's wand exploding?"

Many people present flinched.

"My wand acted off it's own accord," Harry said. "The bike was falling, I couldn't have told you where Voldemort was but my wand spun in my hand and found him and shot a spell at him. It wasn't even a spell I recognized...I've never made gold flames appear before."

"Often," Mr Weasley said, "when you're in a pressured situation you can produce magic you never dreamed of. Small children often find, before they're trained—"

"It wasn't like that," Harry said, gritting his teeth. He stood up and abruptly walked out.

Hermione looked at me.

"Please go with him," I said, wincing.

She nodded and trotted out after him, Ron at her heels.

"Guess we're camping here," George said with a smile. "Fun."

I looked at him and smiled.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "Fun."

It's not really fun when you can't move.

_______

"You STILL haven't cleaned your room?"

"No!" Ron said. "Harry and I are fine with the way it is! Why's it got to be cleaned out?"

"We're holding your brother's wedding here tomorrow, young man!" Mrs Weasley said sharply. "And I've been asking you to clean it for days now—"

"Are they getting married in my bedroom?" Ron asked. "No! So why in the name of Merlin's saggy—"

"Ron," I hissed, wincing as I leaned against my crutches. "Just clean it."

"But Harry's birthday lunch—"

"After the lunch then," I sighed, turning around and flipping my crutches to go down to the garden.

George met me at the foot of the stairs.

"You okay?" He asked.

I smiled wryly.

I heard purring and looked down to see Addy there.

"It's still alive?" George asked. "Isn't this cat as old as you?"

"Magical cat, George," I said. "Hermione brought her. Poor thing..."

"Yeah, having to wipe your parents' memories must be awful," he said, kneeling down to scoop Addy up. "Hey good girl..."

I smiled and rubbed behind her ears. "I've missed you, baby."

Addy purred more.

George helped me out onto a chair at one of the tables we'd set up outside.

We had gone very above and beyond for Harry's birthday.

I'd charmed the candles to glow brighter and levitate above us, like they did at Hogwarts. Hermione put streamers in the trees and the twins made purple lanterns with the number 17 printed on them.

Mrs Weasley had even made an enormous Golden Snitch cake.

Harry is spoiled.

"I wish Dad would hurry up and get here," Charlie said, leaning over the table. "Mum's getting edgy."

Immediately after, there was a blast of light.

Mr Weasley's voice spoke. "Minister of Magic coming with me."

For some reason, my godfather and Tonks slipped away immediately.

Not a moment too soon, because Mr Weasley and Rufus Scrimgeour appeared right after.

"Sorry to intrude," Scrimgeous said. "Especially as I can see that I am gate-crashing a party. I require a private word with you, Mr Potter. Also with Miss Elizabeth Potter, Mr Ronald Weasley, and Miss Hermione Granger

"Us?" Ron asked. "Why us?"

"I shall tell you that when we are somewhere more private," Scrimgeour said. "Is there such a place?"

"Yes of course," Mr Weasley said nervously. "The er, sitting room, why don't you use that?"

"Lead the way, Mr Ronald Weasley," Scrimgeour said. "There will be no need to accompany us, Arthur."

George helped me up slowly.

"The fuck is that about?" He asked.

"I dunno," I mumbled, going in behind Hermione.

"I have some questions for the four of you," Scrimgeour said as we sat down on the sofa. "If you three—" he pointed at us "—can wait upstairs, I will start with Ronald."

"Well Minister," I said immediately, "I can't really move and especially in times like these... I believe you'll understand our wishes that if you shall speak to us at all, it will be together."

Scrimgeour's jaw twitched.

"Fine," he snapped. "I'm here as you surely know, because of Albus Dumbledore's will."

Hermione, Ron, and Harry all looked at me.

I simply shrugged.

"You were not aware then that Dumbledore had left you anything?" Scrimgeour asked curiously.

"No," I said slowly.

"Hold up," Harry said, holding his hand up. "Dumbledore died over a month ago. Why has it taken this long to give us what he's left us?"

Scrimgeour's expression became stiff.

I rolled my eyes and let out a soft growl.

"Obviously because the Ministry wanted to examine what he left us," I said coldly. "You had no right."

"I had every right," Scrimgeour snapped. "The Decree for Justifiable Confiscation gives the Ministry the power to confiscate the contents of a will—"

"—if and only if they are of suspicion to hold a sort of curse. If you can PROVE they might have a curse," Hermione said almost immediately. "The law was created to stop wizards passing on Dark artifacts. And the Ministry is supposed to have powerful evidence that the deceased's possessions are illegal before seizing them!"

"Are you planning to follow a career in Magical Law, Miss Granger?" Scrimgeour asked bitterly.

Hermione shook her head slowly.

"So why have you decided to let us have our things now?" Harry blurted out. "Can't think of a pretext to keep them?"

Scrimgeour ignored him, and instead turned to Ron.

"Would you say you were close to Dumbledore, Ronald?" He asked.

"Me? Not really...It was always Harry who—"

Hermione shot him a look.

"You're being modest Ron," Hermione said quickly. "He was very fond of you."

Scrimgeous rolled his eyes and took out a scroll.

"The last will and testament of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," he read. "To Ronald Bilius Weasley, I leave my Deluminator, in the hope that he will remember me when he uses it."

He handed Ron the Deluminator.

"Valuable object," Scrimgeour said. "It may even be unique. Certainly it is of Dumbledore's own design. Why would he have left you an item so rare?"

"To put out lights I suppose," Ron said. "What else could I do with it?"

Scrimgeour looked annoyed, and simply continued reading.

"To Hermione Jean Granger, I leave my copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard, in the hope she will find it entertaining and instructive."

He handed Hermione a book.

"Why do you think he left you that book, Miss Granger?" Scrimgeour asked.

"He knew I liked books," she said. "He must've thought I'd enjoy it."

Scrimgeour just scowled. He looked at Harry.

"To Harry James Potter, I leave the Snitch he caught in his first Quidditch match at Hogwarts, as a reminder of the rewards of perseverance and skill."

He gave Harry the Snitch.

"Why would he leave you this?" Scrimgeour asked, eyeing Harry closely.

"For the reasons you read," Harry said.

"Your birthday cake is also a Snitch," Scrimgeour said.

"It surely couldn't be because Harry's a brilliant Seeker, that's too obvious!" I said sarcastically.

I was surprised Scrimgeour didn't blast me to pieces on the spot.

"This Snitch could be a good hiding place for a small object," he said. "You know why, I'm sure?"

"Snitches have flesh memories," Hermione said.

"Exactly. A Snitch is not touched by bare skin before it is released, not even by the maker, who wears gloves. It carries an enchantment by which it can identify the first human to lay hands upon it, in case of a disputed capture. The Snitch will remember your touch, Potter," Scrimgeour said. "It occurs go me, that Dumbledore might've enchanted the Snitch so that it will open only for you."

I flashed Harry a look.

He slowly took the Snitch. Absolutely nothing happened.

Scrimgeour looked thoroughly disappointed. At last, he turned to me.

"To Elizabeth Lily Potter, I leave the sword of Godric Gryffindor, in the hopes she will reminisce on her own bravery and understand that true courage is of the essence when difficult times lie ahead. Now," Scrimgeour said, "unfortunately, the sword was not Dumbledore's to give away. It is an important historical artifact, and as such, belongs—"

"It belongs to them!" Hermione said hotly. "Harry pulled it out of the Sorting Hat—"

"—and Elizabeth did not," Scrimgeour snapped. "Strange, isn't it? And besides, the sword will choose any worthy Gryffindor. That doesn't make it belong to Mr Potter or Miss Potter, for that matter. Why would Dumbledore want to give you that sword?"

"Maybe he thought it would look nice on my wall," I said sarcastically.

"This isn't a joke!" Scrimgeour snarled. "Did he believe that only the sword of Godric Gryffindor could defeat the Heir of Slytherin? Did he wish to give you the sword because he and others believed you are destined to destroy He Who Must Not Be Named?"

"Interesting theory," Harry hissed. "Has anyone ever tried sticking a sword into Voldemort?"

Scrimgeour's fists balled up. "Now listen here—"

"You can leave now, Minister," I said coldly. "But listen to me very carefully. You have no business in this. Your Ministry has been useless since my brother and I first began to fight this— this psychopath." I leaned close to Scrimgeour and narrowed my eyes. "Maybe the Ministry should put people onto that instead of wasting their time stripping down Dumbledore's gifts to us and covering up all those Azkaban breakouts."

"You go too far!" Scrimgeour said, jumping up. Harry and I did too. Scrimgeour came towards me and jabbed his wand into my chest, singeing a hole in my shirt right under where my throat was. I didn't flinch, but Ron jumped up.

"Can't you see she's in CRUTCHES?"

"He doesn't care about that," I snarled. "Just like he doesn't care about all the Death Eaters on the loose. He's just sitting in his office, covering it up, trying to act like nothing's wrong—"

"You insolent brat," Scrimgeour snarled, jabbing the wand farther in. I felt my skin burn.

"Get the hell off of her!" Harry spat, pushing Scrimgeour away.

"Potter, you may wear that scar like crown but you can't tell me what to do," Scrimgeour hissed. "It's time you BOTH learned some respect!"

"It's time you earned it," I shot back.

Mr and Mrs Weasley burst in.

"We heard raised voices," Mrs Weasley said with a shaky voice. Scrimgeour lowered his wand and glanced at the hole in my shirt.

"It was nothing," Scrimgeour said. He looked me dead in the eyes. "You seem to think that the Ministry does not desire what you— what Dumbledore desired. We ought to be working together."

"I don't like your methods, Minister. Remember?" I asked, lifting my hand to show where the scar bearing the words 'I must not tell lies' resided.

Scrimgeour flinched. He turned and stormed out of the house.

"What did he want?" Mrs Weasley whispered.

"To give us what Dumbledore left us," I said quickly, not wanting to worry her. "They've only just released the contents of his will."

She nodded and slowly walked out. Mr Weasley winced and followed her.

George strode in seconds later.

"What the hell happened?" He asked sharply. He saw the hole in my shirt and gritted his teeth.

"Dumbledore gave us presents," I muttered, taking the Snitch from Harry. I handed it to George, who stared at it for a bit then made a face.

"What?" I asked.

"It says something," he said, squinting. "'I open at the close.' What in the world...."

Hermione took it and looked at it, her eyes wide, then passed it to Harry and Ron.

"I think it's safest we discuss this later," I said, furrowing my brows. "We should... we should go eat and go to sleep... it wouldn't do to oversleep tomorrow...."

"No," George agreed. "A brutal multiple person murder by the bridegroom's mother might put a bit of a damper on the wedding."


	77. Chapter 77

To be honest, I was a little annoyed I couldn't look like myself at the wedding.

"It's safer," Hermione insisted as she handed Harry and I some vials of Polyjuice Potion.

"I'm already a redhead!" I cried. "Can't we just alter my face—?"

"Beth," Hermione sighed, "look at George and tell me how similar the shades of red in your hair are. You're is like ROSE red and theirs is more orange red— ginger. You'd stand out and everyone knows your particular hair color. Please just take the potion."

I mumbled a few curses and slowly handed my crutches to George, then drank the potion.

I didn't change much. For one I managed to remain the same height, meaning not very short and not very tall. My hair became almost exactly like Ginny's, except it was waist length. (The Muggle girl Hermione got the hair from must be all into hair care routines, because this is the healthiest hair I've ever had).

Unfortunately I lost every characteristic of my face that makes me— well, me. My eyes became a deep brown, my nose became more pointed, my cheeks slightly more hollow, and my face smaller. My skin lightened and I soon had so many freckles that I lost count.

"Well you look VERY Weasley," George said, looking over me.

"Pfft," Fred said, coming to lean on his brother's shoulder. "She'd already be a Weasley if you'd just propose to her already..."

"Fred," I hissed.

George turned red and Fred decided it was the perfect time to trot away.

"Still need the crutches?" George asked.

"Nope," I said. "This body is perfectly healthy... but I might need the crutches later. Can you put them in my purse, please?"

"The one with five beads and a flower with an Undetectable Extension Charm?"

"Exactly."

He nodded and went to the nightstand and took the purse.

Meanwhile, I practiced walking around. It felt good to be able to do that properly again.

When George returned to my side, I stopped walking, and looked in the mirror.

"I don't like not being able to be myself," I mumbled. "It took me a lot of time to grow comfortable with my body and all the changes it went through and just... it's weird not being able to look like the person I grew to love."

"Baby," George said, putting his hands on my shoulders. "It's just for a little bit, to be safe. For the record, you've always been attractive, and I know you didn't feel that way for awhile, but trust me— you are and always have been beautiful."

I smiled slightly.

"I mean," he continued, "did you see yourself at the Yule Ball?"

"As I recall, that was the first time I felt truly pretty," I said, reminiscing at how I'd impulsively cut my hair.

"And as I recall, I couldn't stop drooling over you that entire night," George said thoughtfully, patting my shoulder.

I pulled him into a hug.

"I think," he said, "I might need Fred to stand behind me at our wedding so I don't faint when I see you for the first time."

I blushed, and giggled slightly as he pulled me closer to him.

"How cute." A voice said behind us.

"Fred," I groaned, pulling away from George. George made a face at his brother then led me out to the stairs.

Fred seemed to be struggling to fix his tie.

"Need help there, Freddie?" George asked with a devilish smirk.

Fred rolled his eyes. "You can't even fix your own ties."

"But I have Beth."

I smirked at George then moved to fix Fred's tie.

"When I get married," Fred said, "I won't be bothering with any of this nonsense. You can all wear what you like, and I'll put a full Body Bind Curse on Mum until it's all over."

"I'd very much like to wear sweatpants and a hoodie," I said thoughtfully. "Nowadays, Muggle fashion icons wear that and make so much money..."

"At our wedding," George said, leaning onto me, "I'd like you to walk down the aisle wearing absolutely noth—"

"Oh blimey," Fred cried, his lips twitching as he looked downstairs. "Brace yourselves— here they come, look."

Downstairs the door had opened and I saw that the rest of Fleur's family had finally arrived. This included a VERY wide array of veela girls.

"Holy crap," Fred mumbled. "So many veelas..."

I looked over at George, and saw he didn't look amused.

He saw me staring and raised his eyebrow.

"You're the only one I got eyes for, baby," he said with a wink. "Veela magic doesn't affect me anymore."

I blushed. "I was just curious is all... damn their magic is strong."

"I know," Fred whimpered. "Say... save me a seat, will you? I'm going to go have a chat with Ms Sapphire Dress over there..."

I've never seen someone run downstairs faster.

"Well," George said, shrugging. "We'll see how that goes."

I laughed, and then faltered as I saw another familiar figure.

"Is that your Auntie Muriel?" I asked, wincing.

George looked over the railing and groaned.

"Bloody hell," he mumbled. "When she finds out I'm with you she is going to kill me..."

"I don't know why she's never liked me," I said quietly.

"Oh she adores you," George said. "She likes that you always addressed her as 'ma'am.' What she didn't like is how much Mum let you hang out with Fred and I— said it was inappropriate. She always told Mum she was raising you more like a boy and us all as siblings. She thought bringing you around so often and letting you pull pranks with us was wrong because if Fred or I caught feelings it would be a disaster. She likes things done a certain way."

"Well," I said, gulping. "I should go say hi. Even though I'm not me she's going to insult the hell out of me so might as well get it over with."

"I'll go with you," George said, taking my hand.

We descended the staircase, and saw Harry and Ron were already talking to Muriel.

"...your hair's much too long, Ronald, for a moment I thought you were Ginevra," Muriel said. "Merlin's beard, what is Xenophilius Lovegood wearing? He looks like an omelet— and who are YOU?"

"That's our cousin Barny," Ron said, looking sideways at Harry.

"I meant HER," Muriel said, pointing directly at me. She saw my hand clasped in George's and she raised an eyebrow.

"T-That's our cousin Genevieve," Ron blurted out, clearly not seeing George and I were holding hands.

Muriel scoffed. "More Weasleys? You breed like gnomes. And... I suppose that means George is now into incest—?"

"Auntie Muriel!" George exclaimed. He dragged me closer. "This— this is Elizabeth Potter. In disguise. You remember her, right?"

Muriel looked me over. "I don't remember what she originally looked like."

George pulled out his wallet and extracted a picture of me— from the Yule Ball. I felt my heart leap as he handed it to Muriel.

She looked it over, then looked at me.

"Now I remember," she said. "Still incest, in my opinion—"

"—Auntie Muriel!" George hissed.

"—but regardless, you've grown up... decently, Elizabeth," Muriel said, looking at the picture. "Shorter hair suits you more than that long mane you had when you were little... but dear Merlin you have an awful fashion sense— an emerald green dress with that blood red hair of yours? It simply does not work."

I felt myself turn beet red, and George face palmed himself.

"You girls don't know how to dress right anymore," Muriel said thoughtfully. "I've just been instructing the bride on how to wear my tiara. Goblin made, you know, and been in my family for centuries. She's a good looking girl, but still— French."

"Fleur's brilliant," I said. "She competed in the Triwizard Tournament with me."

"And came in last place," Muriel noted. She paused. "Well, find me a good seat, George, I am a hundred and seven and I ought not be on my feet too long."

George winced and led her out. Harry and Ron came over to me.

"Nightmare, Muriel is," Ron said, mostly to Harry. "She used to come for Christmas every year, then, thank God, she took offense because Fred and George set off a Dungbomb under her chair at dinner. Boy if she knew it was Beth's idea..."

I laughed nervously and cracked my fingers.

"Dad always says she'll have written them out of her will," Ron continued. "As if they even care, they're going to end up richer than anyone in the family, rate they're going."

"You're going to be richer than the Malfoy's," Harry said, looking directly at me. "What with all the money George is making, the money we have, the money you'll get from being an Auror..."

"We'll be the nice version of the Malfoys," I said, now wondering how Draco was doing.

I hoped he was okay.

Hermione suddenly tapped me on the shoulder, and I jumped.

"Hermione!" I said happily. "You look so pretty!"

"Thank you," she said, blushing.

Ron was staring at her like an idiot.

"Wow," he mumbled. "You look great!"

"Always the tone of surprise," Hermione said with a smile. I could tell she was very flattered. "Your Great Aunt Muriel doesn't agree. I saw her awhile ago and said 'Oh dear, is that the Muggle Born? Bad posture and skinny ankles.'"

"Don't take it personally, she's mean to everyone," Ron said.

I felt another tap on the shoulder and turned.

"Viktor!" I squealed, hugging him.

He pulled away and furrowed his eyebrows, looking at me. "Really, you are unrecognizable... they told me you vere Beth and I vos unsure... but George told me it vos you and I decided to trust him."

"Thank you for that," I said, smiling.

Viktor turned to Hermione and smiled.

"You look vunderful," he said.

"Viktor!" She shrieked, dropping her bag. "I didn't know you were— goodness— it's lovely to see—how are you?"

Ron's jaw twitched as Viktor shook her hand.

"How come you're here?" Ron asked a bit sharply.

"Fleur invited me," Viktor said. "She told us years ago... she vanted Cedric, Beth, and I to all be here. But of course..."

"We have a seat saved for Cedric," I said, feeling my chest tighten. "Up near the front— I'll be sitting next to that seat and you'll be on the other side of it."

Viktor smiled. "That vill be amazing. Vill you please lead me to my seat?"

"Harry can," I said, grabbing my brother's arm. "I'm maid of honor— sorry."

Viktor nodded. "I understand. Thank you. I vill see you, Beth."

Harry led him away, and Ron followed.

"Ron was so jealous," I whispered to Hermione as she bent down to pick up her bag.

She turned red. "H-He was, huh?"

"Always has been," I said. "Maybe he'll finally ask you out sometime during the party."

"You think so?" She asked hopefully.

"Perhaps, if he gathers his guts.."

She laughed and waved as she went to take her seat.

I went outside and lined up right behind Fleur.

When the music began to play, Mr and Mrs Weasley walked down the aisle first, and took their seats in the very front row.

Bill came next, walking beside Charlie. They both had their very best robes on, which seemed to be reason enough for Fred and George to whistle loudly.

I walked out after, holding a bouquet of flowers in my hand. I smiled as George blew me a kiss, and took my place on the exact opposite of Charlie, who was standing on the edge.

Then the grand moment came. Monsieur Delacour, with his arm outstretched, led Fleur forward. Behind them, Ginny and Gabrielle, both wearing golden dresses, held up Fleur's train.

Monsieur Delacour dropped Fleur off and kissed her cheek, and she met Bill at the center of the altar.

"You look so beautiful," I heard Bill say softly.

I looked over and saw Charlie clutching his chest and looking at me. He mouthed 'I'm going to cry' and I giggled softly, and mouthed back 'me too.'

"Ladies and gentleman," the wizard up front said. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls..."

This was the cue for Charlie an I to take our seats.

I sat between George and the empty seat for Cedric.

"I love you," George whispered, making me smile and nod as I gently patted the seat next to me.

Viktor noticed and patted the seat too, nodding as well and smiling a bit.

Cedric was here. We just couldn't see him.

"Do you, William Arthur, take Fleur Isabelle..."

Mrs Weasley and Madam Delacour sobbed loudly.

George squeezed my hand and I breathed deeply, trying my hardest not to cry.

In the midst of a war, we had a chance to be happy.

And it hurt.

"...then I declare you bonded for life."

There was a loud cheer, and we all stood up to clap as Bill took Fleur's face in his hands and kissed her.

Almost immediately after, the dancing began, and the bride and groom took their place in the center.

"Beth," George said, leaning over when Bill and Fleur finished their dance.

"Yeah?" I asked, about to take another forkful of chicken.

He laughed and gently pushed the fork out of my hands. "Will you dance with me?"

I blushed and set the fork down and got up.

"Alright," I said as he took my hand.

"Thank God," he mused, winking. "I was afraid you'd say no."

"Why would I say no?" I inquired as he placed his hand on my waist.

"You were REALLY enjoying that chicken..."

"Well you did interrupt a highly intense moment between my food and I..."

George laughed, and pulled me closer, his chest pressing against mine.

"Remember the last time we danced like this?" He whispered.

I did, in fact.  
  


_The time had come for the champions to dance. George reached his arm out for me to take, still staring at me in complete awe as we took our places on the floor. The Weird Sisters had taken the stage— but neither of us were paying attention._

_Because we were staring into each other's eyes, having a silent battle about whether or not we should kiss._

_The music began. George carefully slid his hand around my waist, turning slightly red as he did so. I placed my hand delicately on his shoulder, my other hand clasping his as our feet grew to have a certain rhythm._

_"Remember when your mum taught us to dance?" I asked, smiling._

_"I remember Percy learned the fastest," George said, grinning, "and you took forever to learn. Mum made him dance with you."_

_"And I stepped on his toes a record breaking fifteen times," I said._

_George leaned closer. "I think Neville just broke that record with Ginny."_

_I turned and saw that in the crowd, Neville and Ginny were dancing. She kept wincing as he treaded on her little toes._

_"Poor thing," I sighed. I looked at him, feeling nervous with how often he kept looking at me._

_I think he noticed too, because immediately after he asked "Am I making you uncomfortable?"_

_"Yes," I said immediately. Then my eyes widened and I bit my lip. "I'm sorry— it's— well— can I rant?"_

_George nodded, looking concerned._

_"Oliver asked Batavia to sleep with him," I said, looking over to where Oliver and Batavia had begun to dance. "And she wants to."_

_George raised an eyebrow. "What did you tell her?"_

_"Katie and I yelled at her pretty bad," I said. "She stormed out— dunno where exactly she went to get ready. She was furious that Katie threatened to tell Bixby."_

_George pursed his lips. "Listen, Beth, I wouldn't want to ask you to do something like that. I— well— I'll be honest with you, I would... eventually...."_

_My eyes widened._

_"But not right now," he added hastily. "We're way too young and I wouldn't do that to you. I-I'm sorry if my looking at you makes you think that... well that I want to sleep with you. Trust me I'm not looking at you like that. You— well...."_

_I looked up at him expectantly._

_"You look gorgeous," he spluttered, turning completely red. "You look gorgeous and I am so, so in love with you. I want to kiss you. I want to kiss you right now, and never stop. I want to ask you to be my girlfriend and put my stupidity behind me— you have no idea how much I wish I could take it back because it's my fault we lost a few months. I am so incredibly sorry. But you—" his voice cracked slightly "you look so good I just can't stop looking at you. I don't think I have ever, in all my years of life, seen someone who looked so beautiful. You might as well be a veela, Beth. You're beautiful."_

_Flustered, I looked down. My eyes were filling with a small cluster of tears._

_George pushed my face up. Our noses were inches apart. If we wanted to we could stop completely and just connect our lips._

_"We can't," I said softly, my voice cracking. "I'm so sorry."_

_George pulled away, offering me a small smile. "I know. But it was worth a try."_

_"Look George—"_

_"You don't need to apologize," he said, twirling me around slowly. "You did nothing wrong. I was the one who hurt you. I don't deserve to be here with you. I deserve to have a horrible time. I hurt you so unimaginably much I don't know how I didn't get put in Azkaban. I should be apologizing— and am apologizing. I'm still earning your trust. And... I thank you for giving me the chance to do that again."_

_I couldn't handle it. A slow tear rolled down my cheek. How on earth did this all happen?_

_"Let's put it in the past," I said, tiptoeing and kissing his cheek, my lips making contact with his skin so softly it would have bounced neatly off a butterfly's wing. "Let's enjoy tonight. Then we'll see."_   
  


"I used to be such an idiot," George sighed.

"It's in the past," I said softly. "What matters is we are together. We got through a difficult period of our lives. We... grew. As people."

He twirled me around slowly. "So... I can finally kiss you while we dance now... right?"

I blushed. "Yes... you can."

He leaned in and pressed his lips on mine.

There was suddenly a loud whooshing sound, and George and I broke apart.

Several people screamed and leapt off the dance floor as a silvery figure of a lynx came into the tent, right in the center of the dance floor.

"Who's Patronus is that?" I asked softly, clutching George's hand tightly.

Then Kingsley's voice rang out, answering my question.

"The Ministry has fallen," it said. "Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

George looked at me, and I saw a look of pure fear on his face.

People began to scream, and I looked wildly around.

"Harry!" I screamed. "Harry—"

A jet of light almost hit me and when I dodged it I stumbled forward, falling on the ground. George yelled and helped me up, and dragged me to where Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gathered.

"Hold onto each other!" Hermione cried, casting a protective charm over us. The instant we all linked hands, she turned on the spot.

It was almost like we hadn't left the wedding because wherever we had appeared, we were surrounded by people again.

"Where are we?" Ron asked.

"Tottenham Court Road," Hermione said out of breath. "Walk, just walk, we need to find somewhere to change."

She took out a little bag and handed it to me. I nodded and pocketed it.

"This has the charm on it too, right?" I asked, noticing how George was looking around a bit too much to blend in.

Hermione nodded, so I turned to George.

"Eyes forward," I mumbled. "It's suspicious."

He bit his lip and looked down at me. "I hope Hermione has a plan because we— we didn't discuss this."

"They did," I mumbled. "I think we'll just tag along until they get settled..."

"In here!" Hermione whispered, pushing Harry and Ron into an alleyway.

"We haven't got anything to change into," Ron said, looking with slight disgust at the alleyway.

"We've got the clothes," Hermione said. "Beth and I's purses have an Undetectable Extension Charm. I asked her to hold onto it for me. The Invisibility Cloak is in there somewhere... probably in the bag with the books."

"When did you do all this?" Ron asked as Hermione handed him and Harry clothes. 

"I told you at the Burrow, I've had the essentials packed for days," Hermione said. "I just needed Beth's help with one of the bags. It helped for a quick getaway..."

I nervously rummaged in my purse and pulled out my crutches and some clothes for George and I.

George quickly leaned the crutches against the alley wall and began helping me out of the dress.

"Oi!" Harry cried. "Change under the Cloak!"

"Trust me Harry, the faster we do this, the better," I said as I lifted my legs slowly. "There isn't time to be decent."

Harry gritted his teeth in George's direction and regardless of what I'd said, took turns with Ron and Hermione to change under the Cloak.

"Such babies," George said, stripping almost completely in plain sight. I helped him unbutton his shirt quickly and then put another shirt onto him.

"Okay, done!" Hermione said once we were all dressed and I had my crutches again. "Damn... the potion's worn off on you two..."

I touched my face and winced.

"Well it doesn't matter," I said. "As long as we move QUICKLY."

"What about everyone at the party?" Harry asked worriedly.

"We can't worry about that now," Hermione said softly. "We can't go back, it's too dangerous. They'll be fine, most of the Order was there."

"Let's just move," George suggested, helping me out of the alley.

"We should keep Harry covered," Hermione said. "Beth— I think you'll be fine."

"I will be," I said. "Plus it will be difficult to cover me while I need crutches."

Ron threw the Invisibility Cloak over Harry and then headed out behind George, Hermione, and I.

We walked down the road, avoiding hitting any uneven surfaces for my sake.

Unfortunately this meant walking closer to the buildings, where several drunk men resided.

They all smelled like literal shit.

"So... why Tottenham Court Road?" I asked curiously, trying to ignore the smell as I kept swinging my crutches forward.

"No idea, it just popped into my head," Hermione mumbled. "I-I'm sure it's safer here in the Muggle world."

"I feel so exposed here," I mumbled.

"Probably because you're not under the Invisibility Cloak," George noted.

"Harry needs it more than I do," I said softly.

Hermione made a face.

"Where are we going to go from here?" Hermione asked. "We can't book a room in the Leaky Cauldron. I suppose Grimmauld Place is out if Snape can get in there...we can try my parents house..."

"I think we can trust Grimmauld Place," I said. "Snape... will probably not try and go there."

"How can you be so sure?" George muttered, pointing at the hole where his ear had once been.

"Just trust me," I whispered, feeling my skin crawl as several of the drunk men wolf whistled at me.

"All right, darlings?" One of men yelled. He pointed at me and winked. "You're pretty."

"She is, isn't she?" George said boldly. "We're getting married in a year."

The man laughed and took another swig of his bottle. "Congratulations, mate."

George then slipped his arm around my waist as best as he could and scowled.

"Jealous?" I said with a laugh. "Trust me, you're more my type."

George raised an eyebrow. "Your type?"

"Oh, you know, redhead, tall, prankster, attractive, name is George Weasley...."

He blushed slightly. "Well..."

"You are literally the only guy I have ever TRULY fancied," I said.

"What about that Muggle boy from your second year? Wyatt?"

"Well I LIKED him as a person but never fancied him. Plus it was mostly to stop myself from fancying you."

"Glad to know," George said, turning even pinker.

"In here!" Hermione hissed, waving us into a small cafe.

George helped me into a seat, which unfortunately was facing away from the door.

Something felt off.

"You know we're not far from the Leaky Cauldron here," Ron said once we were all seated. "It's only in Charing Cross—"

"Ron we can't!" Hermione said.

"Not to stay there, but to find out what's going on!" He protested.

"We know what's going on!" Harry hissed from under the Invisibility Cloak. "Voldemort's taken over the Ministry, what else do we need to know?"

The waitress came and I hastily ordered coffee for everyone.

"Listen," I said, looking at everyone and the seat where an invisible Harry was situated. "I suggest we head to Grimmauld Place so you guys can figure out your path. George and I will message the Order afterward."

"You really aren't coming Horcrux hunting, then?" Harry asked softly.

"No," I said. "Especially not now. Maybe... later. I dunno. I need to be healed first and George and I need to see what the Order's plan is. Perhaps—"

"We will join you," George said. "After Beth is one hundred percent better. We'll be staying at Shell Cottage once you leave."

"Wait what?" I said, blinking quickly.

George bit his lip. "I know... I know I said I originally didn't want to go but... I think if you're up for it we should. They need as many people as they can get and three of them is just not enough, in my opinion. After they head out I think we should stay with Bill and Fleur so they can help you heal and then... we will join them."

I nodded slowly. "Okay... it— it will be that way, then." I looked at Hermione. "I have a DA coin— whenever you feel you REALLY need us, just message me there. We'll join you when I'm better."

She looked very relieved.

There was a beat of silence as I smiled slightly at George.

"God this is revolting," Ron muttered, making a face as he stirred his coffee.

I laughed lightly, and happened to look up.

I tensed immediately, seeing two men seated at the counter. One kept looking at us. The other kept looking forward, but I could see a wand in his hand through the reflection in the counter.

The instant I saw his face reflected in the napkin holder, I felt my chest tighten.

"Dolohov," I whispered, clutching George's hand.

"What?" He asked.

"Dolohov," I repeated, nodding ever so slightly with my head in the direction of the men.

George immediately leapt up with his wand in his hand, and both men turned around, their wands drawn.

"STUPEFY!" George yelled.

Hermione screamed as the Death Eater that'd kept turning flew back and hit the wall, crumpling to the ground.

Dolohov snarled and slashed his wand in the air and fired a spell at Ron, binding him in black ropes.

The waitress screamed and ran for the door.

Hermione ducked under the table and helped me hide under it as Harry cast another Stunning Spell.

Unfortunately, it accidentally rebounded on the window and hit the waitress— rather than hitting Dolohov.

"Expulso!" Dolohov growled.

Hermione screamed and cast a protective charm over us as the table we were under exploded, sending George toppling back.

He growled and stood up and fired a powerful hex at Dolohov, making him crumple to the floor.

"George!" I cried, using another one of the tables to help myself up. I shrieked in pain as I stood, and leaned on the wall while Hermione gave me my crutches.

"I'm okay!" He said, wiping his bleeding cheek. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said, moving next to him. I took my wand out and waved it, causing him to hiss as the gash in his cheek healed.

"Lock the door," Harry said, tossing the Invisibility Cloak aside. "Push down the drapes and Ron— turn out the lights."

Ron clicked the Deluminator while Hermione waved her wand to lock the door and cover the windows.

George took a deep breath. "So what do we do with Ugly One and Two?"

"Just wipe their memories," Harry said. "It's better like that, it'll throw them off the scent."

"Can't we kill them?" I muttered, staring at Dolohov with pure loathing.

"If we killed them it'd be obvious we were here," Harry noted.

"You're the boss," Ron agreed. "But I've never done a Memory Charm."

"We have," George said, patting my shoulder. "Just... wipe the last hour."

"Okay," I said, pointing my wand at Dolohov and concentrating.

He woke up, but looked extremely dazed.

I then repeated the process on the waitress.

"Let's clear up then," Harry said.

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Don't you think they'll wonder what happened if they wake up in a place that looks like it was bombed?" Harry asked.

"Right," Ron said. He, Harry, and George restored the cafe the best they could. George managed to fix the table that Dolohov had destroyed. Soon it looked like it had when we'd first walked in.

"Let's carry these two to a table and prop them up with menus," George said, pointing at the Death Eaters. "The waitress— just put her near the counter."

Harry, Hermione, and Ron did so, then met George and I at the door.

"I just want to know how they found us," George mumbled, putting his hand around my waist. "How did they know where we were?"

"You don't reckon you've still got the Trace on you, do you, Harry?" Hermione asked timidly.

"That's impossible, it breaks at seventeen. That's Wizarding law," Ron said. "You can't put it on an adult."

"What if I gave up our position?" Harry asked. "Maybe—"

"We're not splitting up so don't say anything," I said harshly. "I'm not risking my neck for you to just skip down Death Eater Lane. We're going to Grimmauld Place now. No arguing."

"Don't be silly Beth, Snape can get in there!" Hermione said.

"First of all, I just have a feeling he won't dare to try," I muttered. "Plus— Mr Weasley said they've put up jinxes against him."

Hermione faltered.

"And even if they haven't worked, so what?" Harry added. "I swear I'd like nothing better than to meet Snape!"

My stomach flipped. Thanks Dumbledore, for forbidding me from telling Harry the truth.

"But—" Hermione began. Then she relunctantly grabbed Ron's arm.

"I've got Beth," George said. "You three go first."

Hermione nodded and took Harry's arm, then the three of them Disapparated.

George looked at me fixedly. "You know something."

I bit my lip. "Don't tell Harry but Snape... really is on our side. Dumbledore's plan was for Snape to kill him. He knew. I-I became friends with Draco Malfoy on their orders."

George blinked. "That explains it. I was wondering why the hell Ginny had put in one of her letters that Malfoy was being nice to you."

I shrugged. "He's a good kid. But he's surrounded by so much evil.... I hope he's okay."

"Probably is," George said. "They wouldn't hurt that little ferret."

"I hope you're right," I mumbled as George held me firmly and we Disapparated.

We walked in and saw Hermione, Ron, and Harry looking highly alarmed.

"There was a trap for Snape alright," Harry hissed, throwing the Invisibility Cloak into the drawing room. "Stupid mummy..."

"Homenum Revelio," Hermione mumbled. Nothing happened. We were alone.

"Okay," I said. "We— we can set up sleeping bags in here—"

Harry suddenly gasped and touched his scar.

"He's angry," he said.

"Oh Harry! I thought that connected had closed!" Hermione cried, looking at me.

"It did for awhile," Harry said. "I-I think it's started opening again whenever he loses control. That's how it used to—"

"But then you've got to close your mind!" Hermione said sharply. "This is why you took Occlumency! He can plant false images in your mind, remember—"

"Yeah I do remember, thanks," Harry said. He looked at me and I sighed.

"Seems inevitable," I said. "If Occlumency didn't work then there's more to it. Let's just—"

Hermione shrieked, and pointed to something behind George and I. We turned and saw a weasel Patronus materialized.

"Family safe. Don't reply. We're being watched," Mr Weasley's voice said.

"Thank Merlin," George said as Ron covered his face and then went and dropped onto the sofa. Hermione sat beside him and hugged him.

After a mug of hot chocolate, we all decided to go to sleep.

George helped me get settled on the sofa, and tucked me in, then laid down on the floor next to me and leaned into his pillow.

"Beth?" George asked.

"Yeah?" I replied, looking down.

"Let's make a note to try and NOT have our wedding crashed by a bunch of psychos in masks."

I smirked slightly. "Alright."

He looked at me and sighed. "You know... Bill and I had compromised on something."

"Oh?" I asked.

"Yeah— Fleur was going to hand you the bouquet during the toss. Then I would propose to you."

I blushed. "Well look on the bright side... you didn't steal the attention from your brother's wedding."

George smirked. "Yeah I guess not."

He reached his hand up and took mine. "I'll propose to you one of these days. Don't worry."


	78. Chapter 78

In the morning I woke up early.

I usually woke up around what, six? That wasn't early for me.

I mean I woke up at four.

Since George was still completely asleep, I shuffled to the edge of the couch by myself and used the armrest to stand up. I then very carefully led myself between the bodies sprawled on the floor, making sure not stab one of my crutches through someone's face.

I noticed Hermione, who was sleeping on the other couch, had her arm hanging down. On the floor below her, Ron held it tightly.

Sweet.

I noticed Harry seemed only half asleep, so I quietly made my way to the hall, then went upstairs slowly.

I didn't really know what I was doing.

The first thing that caught my attention was the door to Sirius' room.

I smiled slightly, and went in.

The walls were overwhelming.

I mean, there were Gryffindor banners EVERYWHERE. There were pictures of motorcycles, Muggle girls in bikinis, and even some pictures with the other Marauders. All on the wall with Permanent Sticking Charm.

I left my crutches leaned against the door and slowly guided myself along the wall to use my legs properly for a bit.

It hurt, but I managed to make it to Sirius' bed.

I laid down on it and let a loud sigh.

God, I missed him.

I must've fallen asleep, because when I heard a noise and looked up, sun was streaming through the window.

"Hi," I murmured, rubbing my eyes as Harry snuck in.

"Hey," he said. "How long have you been up here?"

"Since four."

"Ah. Well it's seven now... the others are still asleep."

I smiled and patted the spot on the bed next to me.

"Look at this place," I sighed. "You should've done this at the Dursleys..."

"I couldn't use magic, remember?"

"Could've asked me to do it. Sirius mentioned before that Andromeda— Tonks' mom— helped him with this, didn't she?"

"I think so."

Harry sat, and smiled a bit. "I see you made it from the door to here without crutches. Are you feeling better?"

"My hips still hurt a bit when I walk, but for the most part I don't need the crutches anymore."

Harry stood up, and began to walk around the room, picking pieces of parchment up off the floor.

"Are you a trash collector now?" I inquired.

"No," he said, although he smirked. He tossed some of the parchment aside.

"I can see the headlines," I mused. "'The Boy Who Lived becomes The Boy Who Littered.'"

"To be fair, this was already here," Harry noted.

"But you had a chance to throw them in that trash can and you didn't," I countered.

Harry shrugged. "I don't want to mess it up." He bent down and picked up a parchment that was cut off on the end.

"Look, a letter to Sirius," Harry said. He brought it over and I leaned onto his shoulder to read it.

"I'd never seen anything with her writing before," I said softly.

It was a letter from our mum to Sirius, thanking him for Harry's birthday present and for my new shoes and mentioning that Dumbledore had borrowed our dad's Invisibility Cloak.

"We write our g's and p's just like she did," I said, pointing it out in the letter. "Your writing looks a lot more like hers than mine does."

"I wonder why Dumbledore needed dad's cloak," Harry mumbled. "And I wonder what the rest of the letter said."

"Me too..."

Harry folded the letter and put it in his pocket, then began to walk around and rummage in the cupboards.

He returned with a stack of photographs.

"I remember this," I said, looking at a particular picture of baby Harry zooming around on a broom. In the background was what I recalled to be my mother's hands reaching out to him. On the other side was the tail of Addy, when she'd been a kitten.

"Is this you or me?" Harry asked, holding up a picture of a newborn baby.

"Me," I said. "Look— December 2nd 1978. I was LITERALLY a newborn."

Harry smiled. "You were born bald?"

"Pfft— so what?"

He just smirked.

I flipped through more pictures, and pulled out another one, which made me smile.

"This was probably the first time they let you hold me," Harry said. "Look how mum and dad are holding their arms— they think you might drop me."

"Yeah, I mean— I was barely about to turn two," I said with a short laugh.

"And look at this one," Harry said, showing a picture of little me asleep on my father's lap while he burped Harry.

I smiled, then it faded as I extracted another picture.

"This was probably when they first learned she was pregnant," Harry said softly.

The picture was dated April 5th, 1978. This would mean my mother was a month along pregnant with me— assuming I'd been an exactly nine month fetus at birth.

At that time exactly, Fred and George would be four days old.

My parents, Sirius, my godfather, and their friends were starting to take their NEWT examinations.

The picture showed Sirius and my godfather holding up bottles of Butterbeer as they looked excitedly at my dad. On my mother's side I saw the women I recognized to be Alice Fortescue, Neville's mother, and Mary MacDonald— both actually posing for the picture.

In the center, my father was smiling, his arm around my mother, his other hand pressing against her stomach.

"I'm glad they kept me," I said, trying to lighten the mood. "Even though I was an accident..."

That stirred an old memory— from when Harry and I had boarded the train to Hogwarts for the first time together.   
  


" _Merlin's beard, Oliver Wood isn't leaving any girls for us," Fred said. "Angelina, Alicia, and Katie all like him too! Who're we going to date once we turn fifteen?"_

_"Why fifteen?" Bixby asked._

_"Well Mum says we can't date until fifteen," George said._

_"Ha!" Bixby said. "My mother says I can date whenever I want just as long as I don't cause any accidents—"_

_"—like Beth's birth—"_

_"I didn't tell you that piece of information for you to make a joke out of it!" I hissed, although I laughed immediately afterward._

_"Well you can't expect us to just be silent when we know something like that," George said. "You chose to tell us that you were essentially and accident, so you set it up for us to use as a joke."_

_"Your face is a joke," Batavia said, which made everyone go silent._

_"Wasn't that funny?" She asked, looking afraid._

_"It was but holy Dumbledore, Batavia," Lee said. "You usually don't make jokes like that. Or make jokes at all."_

_"Oh," she said. "Well I'm starting to."_

_"Atta kid!" Fred said, grinning from ear to ear._   
  


I smiled, and my lip trembled.

I noticed the way my mother and father looked so happy to be expecting. The way he tenderly had his hand on her stomach.

I rubbed my own stomach subconsciously.

I wished I could have that experience.

"BETH! HARRY!"

"Up here!" Harry called. I quickly wiped my eyes.

I missed Bixby so fucking much.

George ran into the room, breathing heavily.

"Don't just disappear like that!" He hissed, holding the doorframe. "Ron! I've found them!"

"Good! Tell them they're gits!" Ron called up. I laughed.

"We just came to explore," I said, biting my lip as I held up the pictures.

George smiled and came in, sitting next to me. "Aw look how cute you were... I bet our daughter will be this cute."

I felt my chest tighten. "George..."

He realized what he'd said. "Okay well... she'll be cute regardless, okay?"

I winced and rubbed my stomach again.

I was jealous of my mother, in that instant, because she'd gotten the experience twice.

It was stupid, I knew it.

But it hurt.

Ron and Hermione burst through the door.

"You guys ARE gits," Ron huffed.

Harry laughed lightly. "Look at this," he said, holding up the letter. "Apparently my parents knew Bathilda Bagshot. She's still alive, living in Godric's Hollow."

"We can visit Godric's Hollow later to talk to her," Hermione said. "In the meantime, let's go have breakfast."

George helped me up, and I leaned on him to walk.

When we made it out to the hall, he faltered.

"What?" I asked.

"Weren't the initials on that locket thing you found RAB?" He asked.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron whipped around.

"That door," George said, pointing at the door of a room three away from Sirius'.

I quickly made my way there.

The door read "Do Not Enter Without the Express Permission of Regulus Arcturus Black."

Hermione gasped.

"RAB!" She exclaimed. "Yes! It— it has to be!"

"Sirius' brother," Harry said. "He— he said he was a Death Eater. Sirius told me about him. He joined up when he was really young and then got cold feet and tried to leave— so they killed him."

"That fits with everything— Ron! Get up here quick!" Hermione said. We heard Ron's footsteps echoing as they came full speed upstairs.

"What's up?" He asked, breathless. "If it's massive spiders again I want breakfast before I—"

He looked at the sign.

"RAB," he mumbled.

George waved his wand and the door flew open. Hermione, Harry, and Ron went in first, and then George helped me in.

The room was as nice as Sirius' but it had Slytherin colors all over it. The Black family crest was even painted on the wall. There were newspaper cuttings all over the wall, involving Voldemort and Death Eaters.

"He was a Seeker," Harry said, pointing at a picture.

"A damn good one too," George said. "See the patch? You get that as a seventh year if you're really good..."

"What?" Hermione asked. I turned and realized she and Ron weren't paying attention to what Harry had said, nor to what George had replied.

I looked around. "Do you think it's here? The locket?"

Hermione pursed her lips.

"Accio Locket!" Hermione said.

Nothing happened.

"Maybe there's a charm so it can't be summoned," I said glumly. "Or maybe it isn't even here."

"How do we find it then?" Ron asked.

"We look," I sighed. "All over."

I went downstairs with George to make breakfast while the others stayed and looked. When they finally came down to eat from the plates waiting for them, they told us they hadn't found anything.

"I hope this means Regulus already destroyed the locket," Ron said miserably. "Maybe he even hid it here and it's just somewhere else."

Hermione gasped loudly.

"There WAS a locket," she remembered. "In the cabinet in the drawing room. Nobody could open it."

"Well Kreacher nicked loads of things back from us. He had a whole stash of stuff in his cupboard in the kitchen," Harry said.

"I think I remember that," I mumbled. "We can check. We have to go to the kitchen anyway and drop these plates off..."

Everyone ate quickly so we could go and drop our plates in the sink.

Of course we found nothing when we actually searched the cupboard, so Harry decided we should call upon Kreacher.

"How do I do it?" Harry asked. "Do I just yell his name?"

"Yes," I said. "You're his Master— he has to come."

Harry cleared his throat. "Kreacher!"

There was a crack, and Kreacher appeared.

"Master," Kreacher croaked, looking dickly. "Back in my Mistress's old house with the blood traitor Weasleys... your sister...and the Mudblood—"

"I forbid you to call anyone blood traitor or Mudblood," Harry snarled.

Kreacher stared at us with pure loathing, and his lips twitched.

He really despised us.

"We've got a question for you," Harry stated. "And I order you to answer it truthfully. Understand?"

"Yes Master," Kreacher said, bowing low and muttering some foul things under his breath.

George seemed ready to call him out but I swatted his hand.

"Two years ago there was a big gold locket in the drawing room upstairs," Harry said. "We threw it out. Did you steal it back?"

"Yes," Kreacher said honestly. "It's gone..."

"What do you mean it's gone?" Harry snarled.

"Mundungus Fletcher!" Kreacher said. "He stole it all: Miss Bella's and Miss Cissy's pictures, my Mistress's gloves, the Order of Merlin, First Class, the goblets with the family crest and—and," he gasped loudly, "Master Regulus's locket! Kreacher failed in his orders!"

Kreacher went to grab the poker from the fire to hurt himself. George, to my surprise, dove in front of him and snatched the poker away.

"You don't get to punish yourself," he snapped.

Kreacher hissed and tried to snatch the poker back from George.

"Kreacher I order you to stay still!" Harry said sharply. "How do you know Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket?"

"Kreacher saw him!" The elf wailed, "Kreacher saw him coming out of Kreacher's cupboard with his hands full of Kreacher's treasures. Kreacher told the sneak thief to stop, but Mundungus Fletcher laughed and ran!"

"You called the locket Master Regulus's," Harry recalled. "What did Regulus have to do with it?"

"A year after Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord, he came down to the kitchen to see Kreacher. Master Regulus always liked Kreacher. He said...he said the Dark Lord required an elf," Kreacher said, his voice shaky.

"An elf?" I asked, my chest tightening.

"Oh yes. And Master Regulus had volunteered Kreacher!" He gasped. "It was an honor, said Master Regulus, an honor for him and for Kreacher, who must be sure to do whatever the Dark Lord ordered him to do, then come home."

"So Kreacher went to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord did not tell Kreacher what they were to do, but took Kreacher with him to a cave beside the sea," Kreacher said.

I remembered the place Harry had described to us after we'd all been well enough to get out of bed.

Kreacher wheezed a bit, looking like he was in pain. "And beyond the cave there was a cavern, and in the cavern a great black lake...there was a boat...a basin full of potion on the island. The Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it...Kreacher drank. He saw terrible things, Kreacher's inside's burned...Kreacher cried for Master Regulus to save him, he cried for his Mistress Black, but the Dark Lord only laughed. He made Kreacher drink all the potion. He dropped a locket into the empty basin...then he filled it with more potion. And then the Dark Lord sailed away, leaving Kreacher on the island."

I couldn't even begin to imagine how painful that experience must've been. What substance had Voldemort created that was so powerful? It didn't sound like an existing potion.

"Kreacher needed water," he continued. "He crawled to the island's edge and drank from the black lake...and hands, dead hands, came out of the water and dragged Kreacher under the surface..."

"How did you get away?" Hermione asked softly.

"Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," he said. I nodded but Harry didn't seem to understand.

"But how did you escape the Inferi?"

"Harry, he just Disapparated when Regulus called," I said.

"But how?" He asked. "Dumbledore and I couldn't Apparate in and out—"

"Elf magic is more complex. They can even Disapparate in and out of Hogwarts," I said. Harry nodded, turning back to Kreacher.

I had never had more sympathy for the little elf.

"So what happened when you got back?" Harry asked. "What did Regulus say when you'd said what happened?"

Kreacher gulped, looking extremely depressed.

A house elf should never look that sad.

"Master Regulus was very worried. Master Regulus told Kreacher to stay hidden and not to leave the house," Kreacher said. He swallowed hard. "And then a little while later, Master Regulus came to find Kreacher in his cupboard one night, and Master Regulus was strange, not as he usually was, disturbed in his mind. He asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the cabe where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord..."

Hermione sniffled.

"And he made you drink the potion?" Harry asked almost angrily. Kreacher shook his head.

"Master Regulus took from his pocket a locket like the one the Dark Lord had," he said. "And he told Kreacher to take it and when the basin was empty, to switch the lockets."

Kreacher sobbed loudly. I made a rag appear and handed it to him. He stared at me then continued his story.

"He ordered Kreacher to leave, without him. And for Kreacher to never tell my Mistress what he'd done...but to destroy the first locket. And Master Regulus drank all the potion...Kreacher swapped the lockets and watched as Master Regulus was dragged beneath the water and..."

"Oh Kreacher!" Hermione wailed as she flung herself to his level to try and hug him. He cringed and backed away from her.

"The Mudblood touched Kreacher, he will not allow it, what would his Mistress say?" He snarled.

"I told you not to call her Mudblood!" Harry snapped. Kreacher rushed forward and reached for the poker George had set down and began to bang himself on the head. George seized it and shook it from his grasp.

"Kreacher, stop!" George said, taking the poker away and throwing it into another room.

Kreacher just snorted indignantly and coughed.

"So you brought the locket home," I said slowly, trying to get back on the subject. "And tried to destroy it?"

"Nothing Kreacher did made any mark on it!" He said. "Kreacher tried everything he knew, but nothing would work! So many powerful spells, Kreacher was sure to destroy it. Kreacher needed to get inside it, but it wouldn't open. Kreacher punished himself, then tried again, then punished himself...Kreacher failed orders! Kreacher could not destroy the locket! And his Mistress was mad with grief, because Master Regulus had disappeared, and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened, no, because Master Regulus had forbidden him to tell the family what happened in the cave!"

He blew his nose on the rag I'd given him. Hermione was crying even more but she didn't dare try and touch him again.

"Kreacher I'm going to ask you to do something," Harry said. "I want you to please go and find Mundungus Fletcher. We need to find out where the locket is. It's really important."

Kreacher looked up at him.

"We want to finish the work Master Regulus started," Harry continued. Kreacher looked at him with wide eyes. "We want to ensure he didn't die in vain."

"Find Mundungus Fletcher?" Kreacher croaked.

"Yes and bring him here to Grimmauld Place. Do you think you could do that for us?" Harry asked.

Kreacher nodded.

Harry smiled ever so slightly, and took out the fake locket. He placed it in Kreacher's hands. The elf looked at him with wide, confused eyes.

"Kreacher, I'd er— like you to have this," Harry said. "This belonged to Regulus and I'm sure he'd want you to have it as a token of gratitude for what you—"

Kreacher threw himself to his knees and wailed gratefully, clutching the fake locket to his heart.

He cried out so many thank you's to Harry that I lost count. He even bowed to us all— even ALMOST to Hermione, who looked touched.

Then, the locket now safe in his cupboard, he disappeared.

"Well," I said, "it does seem he likes us just a bit more. Might be nicer."

"Are you kidding?" George said with a short laugh. "He bowed to me. ME. The one he called a brat or whatever it was."

"Did you hear how many times he said 'Kreacher thanks Master?' It gave me a headache," Ron said. I laughed.

"Poor Kreacher, he just needs someone to be nice to him," I said. "Sirius must've been so awful to him, I'm sure the Bella and Cissy he mentioned were lovely to them."

"What?" Ron asked. "You mean— Bellatrix and Malfoy's mother?"

"Yes," I said.

"Er— I dunno if LOVELY is the right word for them," George said.

We all laughed.

It felt good to be able to do that.

Kreacher did not return by the time everyone had grown tired, so I decided we might as well sleep, and see if he came back tomorrow.

Knowing what a slimy git Mundungus was, it was no surprise to me that he might be hard to find.

"Your internship starts this Monday, doesn't it?" George mumbled as I climbed under my blankets.

I felt my heart stop.

"What?" I said, looking at him.

George furrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah.. August 4th. I remember... your Auror internship. The orientation is mandatory, isn't it?"

I felt the blood drain from my face.

"Beth?" George asked frantically.

"I-I'd forgotten," I said quietly. "Crap."

"But it's just an internship—"

"George," I said, rubbing my arms, "it— it's worse than that."

"But you're not doing anything bad, why are you scared—?"

I looked at him and gulped.

"I have to walk into a Death Eater infested Ministry," I said. "There's no rules saying they can't kill me."


	79. Chapter 79

"IF I DON'T GO, I WILL BE KICKED OUT!"

"I still don't think you should go," George said firmly. "You can just make it up next year—"

"I'll be a year behind!" I shrieked. "I'm already a year behind because I missed the stupid cut off date and ended up a grade below you and this is my chance—"

"You're still recovering—"

"I'm fine now—"

"They'll forgive you under the circumstances—"

"YOU THINK PIUS THICKNESSE IS GOING TO PARDON ME—?"

"PIUS THICKNESSE WILL KILL YOU IF YOU GO—"

"I'M USED TO PEOPLE TRYING TO KILL ME—"

"I'VE ALMOST LOST YOU TOO MANY TIMES—"

"I NEED THIS INTERNSHIP—"

"YOU CAN DO IT WHEN IT'S SAFER—"

"IT WON'T BE SAFER IF I DON'T TRAIN TO DEFEAT SNAKE FACE—"

"SHUT UP!"

George and I abruptly stopped yelling in each other's faces to turn to Harry, who looked like an alarmed child watching his parents fight for the first time.

"What, Harry?" I snapped.

"George is right—"

"Not you too!" I hissed. "Harry—"

"Beth it's not safe—"

"It will give me a chance to see Mr Weasley," I hissed. "And Kingsley. I can tell them what we've got going on and see what the Order is up to. AND I can see the situation at the Ministry to report back here AND I can see how the program will work—"

"And what if you get killed?" George hissed, stepping away from me. "What then? We wouldn't ever be able to find out what happened to you!"

"I'm not just going to LET them kill me!" I cried. "I'm not a porcelain doll, George, I've been fighting this way since I was twelve!"

"You're not in full health, and you don't have your powers either—"

I laughed shrilly. "When have I EVER been in full health in these past six years? And I haven't had my powers for a whole year now and I've adjusted. I have to go, George, please understand—"

"How am I supposed to understand you when what you're proposing is suicide?" George said. "I don't understand why you're willing to let yourself die over something that can be done in a year, when it's safer—"

"And if we don't defeat him?" I hissed. "What then?"

"Beth you ran the fucking DA, I think you're more than trained—"

I growled in frustration. "You just don't get it, and I thought of all people you would!"

George looked indignant. "What do I not get? Because it's perfectly clear you have a death wish—"

"Passion!" I screamed. "I have wanted to be an Auror since I found out what one was! You know that burning passion— you dropped out of school because of it! Because you KNEW what you wanted more than anything in the world was to run Weasley's Wizard Wheezes with Fred. I want to be an Auror! I will do whatever it takes! You should understand why I'm willing to risk it—"

George groaned. "Beth there is a VERY fine line between—"

"Don't even finish that sentence!" I said. "I'm going and you can't stop me!"

"Don't be stupid, you can't fight against four people—"

I growled and pushed past George to the door.

"Beth, don't!" He said, grabbing my arm. "Baby please—"

"Don't 'baby' me!" I cried. "George please— if you love me, you NEED to let me go—"

"Don't spout song lyrics to me—"

"Leave me ALONE!"

George let out a low hiss and leapt back.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

In the air around me was a ring. A familiar ring made of burning sound and light waves, crackling with electricity.

"How?" He mumbled. "But you— you're—"

"Emotional," I said quickly, seeing it as a proper distraction.

"Does this mean— HEY!"

But I'd already slipped out the door and Apparated to the outside of the main Ministry entrance.

I blew air out of my mouth heavily as I trudged forward into the bathrooms, and noticed a few familiar witches go into stalls. I heard flushing noises and deduced I'd need to flush myself down.

I doubt I need to go into detail. I just... flushed.

When I appeared inside the Ministry, I looked around and almost immediately noticed several Death Eaters present.

They noticed me too. Quite a few nudged their pals and nodded in my direction.

I ignored them, but made sure to keep my hand in my pocket at all times, in case I needed my wand at any moment.

I looked around for any sort of indication of where to go.

One particular sign was placed near the fountain where I'd thrown myself in front of Voldemort's wand to save Harry, and lost my powers.

My fingers tingled as I passed by the spot.

Why had I had a burst?

I decided to continue onward toward the fourth floor, where the main auditorium was.

I waited near the elevator to be taken there, and my senses began to tingle.

I was surrounded by four Death Eaters.

I pretended not to notice, and simply entered the elevator.

The only problem was being pressed up against four grown men with half a mind to kill me in that instant.

The elevator jolted to a stop after going up, then shot forward to the auditorium, making me lose my balance and be knocked against one of them.

I felt a sharp pinch near my lower back and ignored it.

When I exited, I immediately went into the bathroom.

I removed my sweater and cursed.

Lodged in my side was a piece of metal.

A tracking device.

I scowled and exited the bathroom. I'd need a way to remove it before heading to Grimmauld Place.

I walked quickly down the hall toward the auditorium, where I could see several Death Eaters guarding the door.

It was strange to see them dressed as normal people.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic's Auror Program," one of the witches at the entrance said. She looked nervously at the Death Eaters. "Name and birthday?"

"Elizabeth Potter," I said, looking sideways at the Death Eaters, who had glanced at each other. "December 2nd, 1978."

The witch searched for my name on her list and nodded, then checked a box.

"You may go inside and be seated, the presentation will begin shortly," she said.

I glanced again at the Death Eaters, and saw one had slipped his fingers into his left sleeve and pressed down.

I bit my lip and walked in, and found an empty seat near the aisle.

Perhaps I shouldn't have come.

"Good morning," a tall wizard said, going up to the podium. "My name is Caspian Diggory."

My heart skipped a beat. Diggory?

He smiled wryly. "When my great great grandfather Eldritch Diggory founded the Auror program, there were many people who did not believe it would work out. But across the years, many wizards and witches have helped to perfect the curriculum he established, and have allowed for us to develop a well rounded education plan for those seeking to become Aurors."

He walked over to the edge of the stage. "My brother Amos always told me that people who want more than anything to be Aurors are just slightly mad." He laughed. "I think you'd all agree with him."

Amos. This was Cedric's uncle.

There was some light laughter in the audience.

Caspian cleared his throat. "You have chosen a profession that requires the utmost dedication and perseverance. This will require a lot of work. If you've been accepted into this internship, you already know you were the best of the best from your schools, because you earned the necessary OWLs. Look around. You will realize there are a great deal many people here. People you do not recognize."

I looked around and saw he was had a point.

There were people of all nationalities sitting around me. No wonder there were so many.

"This program is open to all countries in the world," Caspian said. "The eleven wizarding schools have a chance to send their students here, because our program is the most elite. This means that the people sitting around you are your competition, even though they will return to serve in their native countries."

I looked around again.

Near the front were several Americans— from Ilvernmorny.

To my right I could only assume the Japanese students were from Mahoutokoro.

In front of me, some students spoke rapid Portuguese to each other. Probably attendees of Castelobruxo in Brazil.

"You are all graded together," Caspian said. "In the end your rank will not matter to your home country, but we will know. You are all competing for the top spot."

He clasped his hands together. "This year is your mandatory year of internship. A group of you will be assigned to shadow an Auror from our Ministry for the year. You will not work in the field, just the office, aiding with the mountains of paperwork all Aurors must go through when dealing with cases. You will attend Saturday lectures to learn Auror rules, and how they have been crafted, and why they are implemented. You will also learn the theories of dealing with situations out in the real world. You will learn spells that are useful to Aurors."

He walked back to the podium. "In a year's time, you will take a final exam to see what you have learned. There are one hundred of you enrolled as of now. At the end of next year, the fifty lowest scores will be cut."

Several people murmured nervously.

"The remaining fifty of you will spend four years of residency here," Caspian said. "The first two years will involve physical and emotional conditioning for working in the field. This involves detaching yourself from others. Learning how to breathe underwater. How to withstand all types of pressure. How to deal with specific injuries, including basic medical training."

Caspian licked his lips. "At the end of those two years, anyone who has been incompetent will be cut. There is no set number of people that will include."

Someone gulped behind me.

"The last two years will be for you to work in the field," Caspian said. "You will attend raids. Go out and do basic and complex cases. And yes, that means you will begin to have cases of your own. If you manage to complete the total of five years in this program, you will be certified as an Auror and will have the opportunity to choose where you want to work. Those of you who seek to return to your native countries will have a chance to do so. Do I make myself clear?"

We all nodded.

"This program is not easy," Caspian said sharply. "Don't try and make it a joke. You will feel broken. You will be worn out. But in the end, you will be conditioned into an excellent Auror. That, I can assure you."

He then looked down. "Unfortunately," he said, his voice cracking, "none of you may begin training yet. You need to pass an inspection mandated by the M-Minister for Magic."

I tensed.

"The Minister will require you submit your birth certificate and detailed family ancestry to prove your blood status. A-As of this year, only purebloods will be accepted."

Several people began to yell indignantly.

"I am sorry!" Caspian said, looking nervously at the back of the room, where I knew the Death Eaters were standing. "T-This isn't my decision..."

He gritted his teeth. "That is all. You may not begin the program until you are cleared. Make an appointment with the M-Minister..."

Many people, looking afraid, quickly began to leave the room. I pulled my hood over my head and blended in with the American group as they passed me.

"This is such utter bullshit!" One of the girls shrieked. "I can't believe we passed up the MACUSA internship for this! We should have listened to Becca's dad when he told us not to..."

I nodded along with the other American kids, and slipped past the Death Eaters.

Then there was a yell.

"She's gone!" A Death Eater yelled. "Put the facility on lockdown!"

I felt my chest tighten.

"What are they talking about?" One of the American boys asked.

"Search for her!" Another Death Eater hissed behind us. "The Dark Lord wants her!"

What the hell did Voldemort want with me?

"Excuse me!" One of the American boys yelled back at the Death Eaters. "Who are you looking for?"

"Elizabeth Potter!" One growled. "she must have slipped out..."

The boy looked around at the group we were walking in and his eyes fixated on me. My eyes widened and I shook my head.

"She's not with us!" He said. "But I think she might've slipped out with the Brazilian kids because they were sitting with her!"

The Death Eaters were pretty stupid, because they listened.

"Corey!" The girl hissed. "What—?"

He nodded to me.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly as two Death Eaters ran past me. "I-I'll get out—"

"YOU'RE Elizabeth Potter?" A brown haired girl whispered. "Oh wow..."

I bit my lip, and all the American kids stared at me strangely.

"You are so badass," the blonde girl said. "Wow— we need to get you out!"

"Save yourselves," I said quickly. "You— you helped me already, and I can't thank you enough—"

"Don't be stupid!" Corey hissed. "Savanna—" he looked at the blonde girl "we need a plan. Look Elizabeth— you and your brother are our heroes. We're rooting for you guys to stop this psycho before he tries to invade America."

I winced. "I-It's dangerous for you guys..."

"We're future Aurors!" Savanna said. "It's our JOB. Come on— Lynn, Alex— let's head over here."

The brunette— Lynn— and another boy, Alex, helped lead me over to an area with many people gathered in a line for the bathroom. I'd be hidden easily.

"Okay," Corey said, looking around. "We— we can have you go into the bathroom— hey! Ma'am!"

A brown haired witch in line for the bathroom wearing a St Mungo's uniform turned.

"Katie!" I cried, hardly believing my luck.

"Beth!" She hissed, running over.

"You know her?" Lynn said, looking relieved.

"We went to school together," Katie said, touching my face. "Oh my God, they told me about how injured you were after Harry's breakout from that Muggle house... you can walk!"

"I can, yes," I said, biting my lip.

"Oh!" Lynn said. "You're Katie Bell!"

"Yes," Katie said, looking perplexed.

"We've heard about you!" Savanna said. "We learned all about that Dumbledore's Army thing and the Ministry fight where that boy died..."

Katie tensed. "Bixby. He— he was my boyfriend."

Savanna paled. "I-I'm sorry... um..."

"Escape plan," Alex said quickly, looking guilty.

"Right," Savanna said. She furrowed her eyebrows. "Oh! I've got it!"

"Well, say it quickly," Corey hissed, seeing the Death Eaters were coming back.

"Here's the plan," Savanna said, deep in concentration. "Alex— you're good at illusion spells, you can make Elizabeth look like... like Brenda! The one in Pukwudgie who used to sleep a lot in our History class?"

"How will that help?" Alex said, although he quickly took out his wand. "The place is on lockdown!"

"That's where Katie comes in!" Savanna said. "She works at St Mungo's. We can... have Elizabeth fall like she had a seizure then Katie can say it's emergent and they need to take her back to St Mungo's and we can tag along because we're the 'friends.'"

"That can work!" Katie said, taking out her purse. She looked over her shoulder before taking out a small potion. "It'll hurt, Beth, but it will induce seizures just for awhile to make it more realistic. We— we should hurry."

Savanna quickly tiptoed to shield me while Alex waved his wand, and mumbled some words.

I hissed in pain as my face and head shape changed.

"Perfect!" Lynn said, coming forward and waving her wand. My hoodie disappeared, leaving me with the grey t-shirt I'd had underneath. "Okay— drink the potion now."

Katie handed it to me and I took a swig, then handed the bottle back to her.

I immediately collapsed on the floor and began to seize.

Katie dramatically dropped to the floor and turned me on my side. The people around screamed and began to watch.

This drew the Death Eaters' attention, and several gathered in the crowd.

"What's going on?" The familiar voice of Rookwood hissed.

"Give me my purse— kid!" Katie said to Corey. He handed her the purse and she took out a small injection and stabbed it into my arm. I went limp and stopped seizing.

Katie made a big show of shining a light in my face.

"I need a gurney now!" She yelled. "Her pupils are blown— she will need to go to St Mungo's right away!"

"What for?" Rookwood hissed as some Ministry officials brought a gurney.

Katie put on her best furious look while Corey and Alex lifted me onto the gurney.

"Are you a doctor?" Katie snapped. "No! I am! This type of seizure means she could have a massive intracranial hematoma in her left frontal lobe. Do you really think we should let an AMERICAN die on our premises?"

"N-No," Rookwood hissed.

"Then move out of my way and let this group in with me to take her to St Mungo's!" She snarled. "Now!"

Rookwood surprisingly cleared a path and Katie dramatically climbed onto the gurney and began doing chest compressions on me. I gagged and looked at her, and she nodded ever so slightly.

"Push the gurney!" She said to Corey, Alex, Savanna, and Lynn. They complied, and we began heading to the fireplaces near the wall.

"St Mungo's!" Katie yelled to a witch by the fire. The woman frantically prepared the fire, and seconds later we went through it.

We appeared in St Mungo's and several nurses ran to our aide.

"Stop!" Katie cried, getting off. She waved for them to go back. "It's her! Stop!"

The nurses seemed to understand, and retreated to their desks.

"You have a code for me?" I mumbled, climbing off the gurney while Alex waved his wand and made my face be returned to normal.

"Yes," Katie said, breathing heavily as a nurse took the gurney away. "We— we all made a pact to help anyone from the order. If you or Harry is known to be here, we emphasize HIM and HER— you can trust us, don't worry. We're at the Order's service— Kingsley rounded us up about a month ago."

"Thank you," I said, breathing heavily as Katie shoved us all into a patient room.

"Don't mention it," she said breathlessly. "Beth I've been so worried..."

Corey, Alex, Savanna, and Lynn all sat down while Katie caressed my face.

"Now," she said, looking at me. "Anything else you need checked? No pelvic pain?"

"No," I said. "B-But they did put a tracker on me."

I lifted my shirt and Katie easily removed the tracking device, then tossed it out the window.

"How's your monthly pain?" She asked.

"Tolerable," I murmured.

"Oh!" Savanna said. "Is it true you can't have kids?"

"Savanna!" Corey hissed.

My heart ached. "Yeah... but it's fine Katie, I doubt it can be fixed."

"It can't be, I'm sorry," she mumbled. "But you.. you can consider a surrogate, okay?"

"Hmm," I said, sighing. Then my eyes widened.

"There was a burst!" I said. "This morning when George and I were arguing."

"A burst?" Katie said, furrowing her eyebrows. "Like the power ones?"

"Yes!" I said. "It was so strange..."

Katie observed my hands, and then took out a tray to check my blood.

"I think it might just be the stress," she muttered. "By theory you'll still have bursts every now and then, but you... you won't get your powers back."

"Oh," I mumbled. "Okay... well it was worth a check."

She nodded, then turned to look at all of us. "You all need to get out. Where are you staying, Beth?"

"Harry's legal house," I said. Katie knew that meant Grimmauld Place, I just didn't want to say it out loud.

"Okay," she said, pacing. "I can... I can send a message to Batavia via Patronus to get her to block all tracking on that fireplace for twenty four hours so you can take them and get them out of here."

"Please," I said, wincing as I stood up.

Katie ran out, and the others looked at me wide eyed.

"I really hope we get to be in the program together next year!" Savanna said. "That would be so cool..."

"Thank you guys so much," I said, smiling a bit. "You're amazing."

"No, you are," Alex said. "I can't believe you did all that... you're going to defeat him."

"I really hope so," I said, rubbing my hands together.

Katie ran back in. "Okay! It should reach Batavia in less than half an hour... I would say head to Grimmauld Place now and lay low until she pokes her head in the fire and lets you four back in to America."

"Thank you," Corey said, looking fixedly at Katie. "How can we ever repay you?"

"Never tell anyone what we did," Katie said seriously. "You must keep this secret until it... it's safe. Okay?"

"Got it," Alex said, smiling. "Thank you, Katie."

She blushed a bit, and then hugged me.

"Stay safe, please," she said, stroking my hair. "I can't lose you too."

"I'll be okay," I said. "Keep a hold of your DA Galleon."

"Okay," Katie said. "Now quickly— get going. It'll only be a matter of time before they realize what we did."

I hugged her one last time before grabbing onto the others.

"Hold on tight," I said, turning on the spot.

It was slightly difficult to keep everyone from falling off the doorstep to Grimmauld Place, but I managed, and kicked the door open.

"Severus Snape?" The mummy said.

"No!" I yelled, waving my wand. The mummified figure retreated.

George and Harry ran in from the kitchen, and their eyes widened when they saw Corey, Alex, Savanna, and Lynn stumble in.

"Hi," I said breathlessly.

"Oh my GOD!" Lynn shrieked. "Harry Potter!"

George looked at me with confusion.

Hermione and Ron ran over, and soon Savanna, Corey, and Lynn were all over them too, while Alex focused on learning more about Harry.

George pulled me in for a hug and kissed my forehead.

Then he pulled away and looked around at my very excited American friends bombarding the Golden Trio with questions.

He chuckled and winced. "You have a LOT of explaining to do."


	80. Chapter 80

"WOW! So you're dating THE Oliver wood, you're best friends with THE Elizabeth Potter, and you're— you're bloody Batavia Hoganson!"

Batavia turned beet red. "Um... yes... wow. You ARE a fan."

"Are you kidding?" Lynn cried. "I've been keeping up with you all since the Triwizard Tournament! I'm so sorry about your brother, by the way."

Batavia awkwardly smiled. "It-It's fine. Just... wow you guys know a LOT about us."

"They taught us about what was happening here at Ilvermorny," Corey said. "You guys are all legends over there— we know all about you. Some American witch wrote a whole book about what you guys have been through..."

"Pretty cool," I said, smirking slightly. "That is indeed... cool."

"In all my years of visiting America in the summer and I never even knew," Batavia said.

"Well you never visited the region where Ilvermorny is, THAT'S for sure," Alex said. "That's where it's all centered."

"You need to get me a copy of that book you mentioned," Harry said sheepishly. "What's it called?"

"Harry Potter, duh," Savanna said. "The woman is thinking of making a series about it."

"That's dedication," I mumbled.

Batavia checked her watch. "Right. In exactly three minutes the fireplace will open to safely escort you home without being tracked... we have to time it exactly."

"Hey," Alex said, tapping Batavia's shoulder. "Let Katie Bell know she can owl me if she... needs anything."

Batavia smirked. "Sure... what's your name again?"

"Alex," he said. "Alex Tisor. Wampus."

Batavia looked him up and down. "We'll see."

I could tell she was hesitant.

I knew she and I were both thinking about Bixby.

Bixby had been epic for her. Katie had started out dating Vance Eldrich. He had been disrespectful to her, and she didn't want to be with him anymore.

When Bixby and her had gotten together it had been like they were meant to be. Like something had changed for her.

He had literally turned her world.

I don't think any of us had ever imagined Katie would be with anyone other than Bixby for the rest of her life.

Alex smiled, and Batavia checked her watch.

"Okay," she mumbled. "As soon as my watch rings, walk through."

"Thank you for everything," Corey said, nodding at us. "And thank you for giving us those DA Galleons. If you need help... we will come."

"Thank you," I said, smiling as Savanna took Lynn and Corey's hands. Alex went on the other side of Corey and nodded to us.

The watch chimed, and they all sprinted through the fire.

Batavia let out a loud sigh.

"Part of me wanted to tell him no," she mumbled. "I can't see Katie with anyone other than Bixby."

"It'll be her choice," I said softly. "But we can't blame her if she decided to move on. Besides... she will never, ever stop loving Bixby. I know that for a fact."

Batavia's lip trembled and she looked at George. "So... Oliver proposed."

"No way!" I cried, smiling. "When?"

"Last week," she said, pulling out a necklace with a fancy ring at the end. "I wanted to tell you guys in person."

"Congrats," George said. "Seems Oliver finally grew a pair."

She blushed.

"Batavia that's wonderful," I said, pulling her into a hug. "Why do you look so sad?"

"Well he proposed then left for a game," she said solemnly. "It was abrupt. I miss him. I never know if he's safe or not, and it worries me."

She rubbed her stomach and my chest tightened.

"You're pregnant," I said softly.

She nodded, and her lip trembled. "I-I don't want him to d-die and l-leave us..."

I pulled her into another hug.

"You guys will be okay," I said. "All of you. Wow Batavia... congratulations. Does your mum know?"

"She does, yeah," Batavia said, wiping her eyes. "She actually was the one that figured it out first. I threw up at Sunday dinner last week and then she just... knew. And then I took a test, told Oliver... and he proposed."

"Shotgun wedding?" George asked with a slight smirk.

"Something like that," she said. "If it's a boy, I'm naming him Bixby."

"That's lovely," I said, patting her shoulder. "Oh I hope it is a boy..."

She wiped her eyes again and breathed deeply. "Well I have to go now but... I'm glad I got to tell you guys. I won't be much help over here until the baby is born but I'll help as much as I can on my end. If you need anything, you know how to contact me."

"Take care," I said as she stepped into the fire.

"A baby," George said, putting his arm around me. "Damn that Oliver sure does move fast."

I burst into tears.

"Beth!" George said, putting his hands on my shoulders. "What—?"

"I-I-I'm jealous o-of her!" I sobbed, leaning on his chest. "T-There is n-no w-way they were t-t-trying for a baby... t-that h-had to be u-unplanned. T-They get to h-have a b-baby and w-we c-can't..."

"Hey," George said soothingly, leading me to the couch to lay down. "Today has been really stressful for you, come on..."

I stifled a sob as he helped me get settled.

"Remember Katie said you can have more bursts?" He said, stroking my hair. "And remember how much those hurt you? Calm down baby... it's okay... calm down so you won't get yourself hurt..."

"I'm sorry," I whimpered. "I'm sorry we c-can't have a b-baby..."

"I don't love you any less because of it, I told you that," he whispered.

He kissed my forehead and continued stroking my hair.

I was so exhausted I simply fell asleep.

_______

It seems after my appearance at the Ministry, Death Eaters had figured I was staying at Grimmauld Place with other people, possibly Harry.

It was true of course, but they needn't know that.

What bothered me, first and foremost, was that they didn't even bother to dress in Muggle clothes to blend in.

So the Muggles definitely knew something was up.

The other thing that bothered me was how often they changed posts. Like what, do you really get tired so easily? Weak.

The last thing was that now we had to be extra careful and Apparate out under the Invisibility Cloak.

This we only needed to do on days when we went grocery shopping. It wasn't much of an issue for me, since I would just Apparate to a shop near my godfather's house where no one recognized me.

It was an issue for George though, because who didn't know the famous founder of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes? Surprisingly, wizards living nearby my godfather recognized him more often than they recognized me.

So I did the shopping.

One night after a particular trip brought me back with ingredients for meatball soup, there was a knock.

"Can someone check who it is?" I called.

But no one moved.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron had been talking about their plan last I'd seen, and George was passed out of the couch.

I groaned and left the soup stirring itself before taking my apron off.

The door opened itself, however.

"Severus Snape?" The familiar mummy voice asked.

"I did not kill you, Albus," I heard a familiar voice say.

Seconds later, my godfather walked in.

"Uncle Remus!" I cried, leaping into his arms.

He smiled and rubbed my back. "Beth... how are you?"

"Better," I said.

There as the sound of a door flying open and next thing I knew, the trio and George had appeared.

"Now you come," I sighed, waving everyone into the kitchen.

"Something smells delicious," my godfather said, inhaling the scent coming from the pot in front of me. "Is it... meatball soup?"

"Yep," I said, waving my wand and bringing six bowls toward me. I waved it again and the large spoon in the pot filled the bowls for me.

"Smells delicious, Beth," Hermione said happily as she sat down.

"I'm famished," my godfather sighed, sitting next to George. "I'm sorry for my late check in, by the the way, I'd have been here three days ago but I needed to shake off the Death Eater tailing me."

"That's my fault," I muttered as I served the bowls. "I-I went to the Ministry."

"Trust me, it was a good thing you went," my godfather asked, making George and Harry's mouths drop open.

"How is it good?" George inquired.

"Well it let us know that You Know Who once again holds Beth as a target," my godfather said, blowing on his soup to cool it down. "The question is why."

"Well she had a burst," George said once I had down.

"It doesn't mean her powers are coming back," my godfather said gravely. "It just means she's getting too emotional and stressed and that's not good in any world. Besides— You Know Who couldn't know. Duquette's Law is clear... your powers cannot return. They simply can't."

I winced. "I figured as much. It's just weird why he suddenly cares about me now."

"Our assumption is that he needs you as bait," my godfather said. "It's been difficult to get Harry. You're his family."

"If they couldn't catch me at the Ministry they won't catch me ever," I muttered.

"That was incredibly foolish of you," my godfather said. "But the benefits outweighed the harm..."

"So you agree it was a stupid idea?" George said.

"He just said he did," I replied, rolling my eyes. "Look I'm sorry I went, okay? But now we have American wizards and witches on our side and we know St Mungo's is on our side, and we know that snake face is trying to catch me again."

"Snake face?" My godfather inquired, his lip twitching.

"Calling him by his name gives me a bad feeling, I dunno why," I said.

"Hmm," my godfather said, now sipping from the bowl. "So... did you come straight here after the wedding?"

"No," Harry said. "Only after we ran into a couple Death Eaters in a cafe on Tottenham Court Road."

My godfather's spoon clanged against the edge of the bowl, making me jump.

"What?" He gasped. "How did they find you so quickly?"

"No idea," I said. "We sort wondered if Harry might still have the Trace on him but we ruled that as impossible."

"And it is, they can't have found him any other way. This is worrying, really worrying," my godfather said. "And your feeling of not using his name, Beth... it could be connected."

"Wait a minute," George mumbled, furrowing his eyebrows. "I read once... something... hmm... do you think it's possible they made his name a taboo?"

"Yes," my godfather said. "Yes George I think... I think you've figured it out."

"What does that mean?" Harry asked.

"Dark magic," I said. "Saying his name practically triggers a signal of where the speaker is. It's used sometimes in good ways, but not always..."

We were silent.

"Tell us what happened after we left, we haven't heard a thing since Ron's dad told us the family was safe," Harry said, changing the subject.

"Kingsley's warning was right on time. Many people were able to Disapparate right away," my godfather said, taking another spoonful of soup. "Ministry people and Death Eaters alike, but they didn't know you were there Harry. Arthur heard a rumor that they tried to torture your whereabouts out of Scrimgeour before killing him. If that's so— then he didn't give you away."

"Well turns out that bloke died doing a noble deed," I said scathingly, rubbing my chest where Scrimgeour had singed a hole with his wand. "Should've shoved the crutches up his arse."

"Glad you didn't," my godfather said grimly.

"What else happened?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"They searched the Burrow top to bottom, even found the ghoul. They wanted to get information about Harry and Elizabeth but of course only the Order knew you had been there," my godfather said, playing around with the meatballs in the soup. "They've been forcing themselves into Order connected houses. Nobody's dead but they were rough."

"So the Death Eaters have got the full power of the Ministry," I stated grimly. "Which means now they can break any law without fearing punishment. Just great."

"Exactly," my godfather agreed. "Naturally many know what happened. They assume Vol—You Know Who must be behind the dramatic changes in Ministry policy. No one knows who to trust, You Know Who is playing a very clever game. He's declared himself while remaining masked."

I huffed loudly.

"So that thing that happened," I said. "About them telling us we couldn't enter the Auror program until we were certified as pureblood... it means the Ministry has begun a purge on all those they deem undesirable in society. Like fascists."

"Exactly," My godfather said, wincing. "All internships are postponed until applicants can probe their status. And what's more— they're putting Muggleborns on trial to root out whether they are truly wizards. They have to prove they have Wizard ancestry."

"What if purebloods and halfbloods swear a Muggle born's part of their family?" Ron asked. "I'll tell everyone Hermione's my cousin—"

Hermione's hand flew to touch his and squeeze it.

"Thank you Ron," Hermione said, blushing, "but I couldn't let you—"

"You won't have a choice," Ron said firmly, gripping her hand tightly. "I'll teach you my family tree so you can answer questions on it."

"What about Hogwarts?" I cut in. "Has snake face got specific plans for it?"

"Yes," My godfather said. "Attendance is now mandatory. He's making sure he has the whole Wizarding population under his eye from a young age. He's also finding Muggleborns like that, he's making them prove they are of wizard descent before they can attend Hogwarts."

I hissed. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

My godfather shook his head. I stood up and collected the soup bowls and then returned to sit down, crossing my arms.

"So everyone is okay, then?" I murmured.

"Yes," my godfather said. "And I'm glad to know you are all safe too. Molly's been a nervous mess. But to get to the reason why I'm here... I'd like to know if you could confide in me what this mission is."

I looked at Harry and he shook his head.

"I can't, Uncle Remus, I'm sorry," Harry mumbled. "If Dumbledore didn't tell you then I don't think I can. Beth and George hardly know about it."

"I was afraid you'd say that," my godfather sighed. "But I might still be of some use to you. You know what I am and what I can do. I could come with you to provide protection. There would be no need to tell me exactly what you're up to. That way Beth and George can stay behind safely but you'll be protected."

"What?" I said, looking at him. "But the Order—"

"And about Tonks?" Hermione cut in. "You're married! How does she feel about you going away with us?"

"Tonks will be perfectly safe," my godfather assured her. "She'll be at her parents' house."

"Remus," Hermione said, looking fixedly at him. "Is everything alright between you two?"

"Everything is fine, thank you," my godfather replied. Then hesitating, he added "Tonks is going to have a baby."

I felt my chest tighten again.

Another baby.

"Oh, a baby!" Hermione said.

"Congrats," Harry said, shaking his hand.

"That really is excellent," Ron noted.

"Very big congratulations, mate," George said, smiling wryly.

I could tell it hurt him too.

My godfather looked at me.

"Yeah, congrats," I said, smiling, clasping my hands tightly together. "It-It's nice you're able to have some happiness in the midst of this."

My godfather's slight smile vanished.

"So," he said, staring at Harry. "Do you accept my offer? Will three become four?"

"Wait," I said, looking at my godfather. "Y-You want to leave Tonks at her parents' house and go away with them?"

"She'll be safe, they'll look after her," my godfather said. He looked at me, then back at Harry. "I'm sure James would have wanted me to stick with you."

"No," I said, looking at my godfather, my jaw tight. "No— no way. I'm pretty sure our father would have wanted to know why you aren't sticking with your kid."

My godfather blinked, and stared at me with mild surprise.

"Elizabeth," he said. "You don't understand."

"Well explain it to me then!" I shrieked, feeling tears already in my eyes.

"I-I made a grave mistake marrying Tonks," he said. "I did it against my better judgement and I have regretted it very much every since."

"Are you kidding me?" I cried. "Why— then WHY did you even go along with a relationship? She loves you— and I could swear you loved her!"

"I do love her!" He hissed. "But she deserved someone better, someone younger, and I-I'm a werewolf with NOTHING to give her."

"Oh shut up," I snapped. "Do you think she cares how rich you are or what disabilities you have? She wanted to marry you for being you! And now you— you're just abandoning her— dumping her and your kid to run off with them?"

"Do you understand what I've done to my wife and unborn child?" My godfather asked slowly and menacingly, looking at me furiously. He hadn't been this mad at me since when he found out what George and I did. "I've made her an outcast!"

"She doesn't care! You're genuinely a good person that she liked a lot!" I said. "You think she cares that you're a werewolf? No! She loves you even with that clinging onto your very being!"

My godfather stood up kicked his chair aside.

"You don't know how most of the Wizarding world sees creatures like me," he snarled. "When they know of my affliction, they can barely talk to me! Don't you see what I've done? Even her own family is digusted by our marriage, what parents want their only daughter to marry a werewolf?"

"Oh don't play that card!" I cried. "You raised me— from when I was only three! You're perfectly competent and they know that! Her parents should— and probably do— only care about the fact that she's HAPPY with you!"

"That's not all!" He hissed. "The child, the poor child... my kind don't usually breed! It will be like me, I'm sure of it—"

"That's not true!" I spat. "Werewolves breeding with humans equals non werewolf children because your genes are recessive compared to those of a human! YOU taught me that when I asked you! You're just paranoid!"

My godfather stared at me.

"That child would still be better off without a father of whom it must always be ashamed!" He said.

"I was never EVER ashamed of you!" I cried. "Do you know how proud I was to say you were my godfather— that you'd taught me how to tie my shoes and ride a broom, even though you didn't know how to?"

My godfather blew air harshly. "You don't understand ANYTHING, Elizabeth— you don't—"

"YOU ARE ABANDONING A BABY!" I cried. "And a wife! You— you're the one that doesn't understand what you're doing!"

I realized I was crying when everyone looked at me with wide eyes.

"I-I want," I said, breathing heavily, "a baby. I want to have a baby— someday. And guess what? I can't! I will never be able to have a baby! And you... you're perfectly healthy... you have a perfectly healthy wife... and you've been blessed with a baby. A beautiful child that is your very own. And you're taking it for granted! You're abandoning it! How DARE you— how dare you be so unappreciative when you have s-something... something I want so, so bad..." I choked, and blinked away tears. "You get to have a baby. And you're leaving it."

"Elizabeth," he hissed. "It has nothing to do with—"

"I GREW UP WITHOUT MY PARENTS!" I screamed, stepping away from the table. "I WISH TO GOD I HAD THEM! AND YOUR CHILD HAS A CHANCE AT THAT AND YOU'RE GOING TO THROW YOURSELF IN DANGER! T-T-The memories I h-have... of my parents... I cherish them... so much... and you're denying your child a chance at having any memories... and you're being unappreciative of the blessing to even get to be a p-parent...."

"How dare you?" My godfather snapped. "How dare you suggest it's a desire for danger or-or some sort of personal glory—"

"You're acting like a daredevil!" I cried. "This— this I would have expected from Sirius, not you!"

"Don't compare me to Sirius!" My godfather snapped.

"No, because that'd be an insult to him, wouldn't it?" I sneered. "Because he would never abandon his child and wife, if he'd had one. He'd have faced fatherhood even if it was scary for him. But you... you're a coward."

My godfather's jaw twitched and he threw his chair aside and stormed out.

"REMUS!" Hermione wailed. "Don't leave! Please come back!"

She ran after him, but he'd already left.

I collapsed into a chair and let out a loud sob.

"He's so selfish!" I cried, covering my face as I felt George's hand on my back. "He gets to have a baby! And he's just throwing it all away..."

George cradled me in his arms and picked me up. I whimpered and choked back a sob as I leaned into his chest.

"We're going to bed," George mumbled to the others, holding me close as he left the kitchen.

He carried me upstairs to one of the guest rooms we'd made ours, and set me down on the bed.

"I-I want a baby," I sobbed. "I want a baby... so so bad..."

"Look at me," George whispered, holding my face gently in his hands.

I blinked away more tears and looked up at him.

"I will make sure we have a baby," he said, stroking my cheek softly. "I promise you."

My lip trembled and he gently kissed me, and rocked me back and forth.

"One way or another," he whispered, "you and I will be parents. I promise."


	81. Chapter 81

While I slept, Kreacher had returned to report on what he'd found about the locket.

"So Mundungus stole it," I said. "But Umbridge took it. And now Umbridge has it."

"Yes," Hermione said.

I bit my lip, and looked down at my hand, where my scar bearing the worlds 'I must not tell lies' resided.

"Lovely," I mumbled. "So what are we going to do?"

"Well," Harry said, "I think it's obvious we're going to steal it back."

"I could accidentally kill her," I muttered.

"You're already a wanted criminal," Hermione reminded me. "It's safer you don't."

I sighed. "Okay. Do we have a plan or not?"

"Not necessarily," Hermione said. "That's where we need you."

Needless to say, Hermione and I spent the entire afternoon devising a plan of attack.

We presented it to the boys that evening.

"Okay," I said, placing my hands on the table. "This is going to take a month because of the time it takes for the Polyjuice to brew."

"Polyjuice?" George said.

"Let us explain," I replied, holding my hand up. "We clearly can't waltz into the Ministry looking like ourselves, right? So we need to use Polyjuice."

"But who will we go in as?" Ron asked.

"Ministry workers," Hermione said. "Some of us can go for a few days and take note of who works there so we know who we can turn into to get in successfully. We'll go in, find Umbridge, steal the locket, and return here. And from there..."

"From there your hunt begins," I said softly. "And George and I go to Shell Cottage until you really need us."

George paled. "This soon?"

"It has to be now," Hermione said. "We can't waste another minute. Beth's already begun to brew the potion and I've made a plan for us to go and spy. We have to make the most of it."

George gulped slightly. "Okay... well, tell us what we need to do."

We spent the next months taking turns going to the Ministry and writing down notes of who continuously came, and how they were perceived by others.

We learned enough about five particular Ministry workers that we could use, and after a long conversation with Hermione, deduced it was our best shot.

September 1st passed as we waited for the Polyjuice Potion to finish brewing, and it was a bit difficult to cope with the fact none of us would be boarding it.

"I should be on there," Hermione mumbled. "As Head Girl."

I sighed, and kept stitching up the sweater I was fixing for George. "Hermione you can go back next year when it's better. And you'll be the best Head Girl."

She smiled. "You were good at it. I hope to be like you."

"You will be," I said. "You'll be better, even. You're a lot less impulsive than I am and less bitchy."

She laughed, and seeing no one around, scooted closer. "When did you know you loved George?"

"Pfft that's difficult," I said. "God— I've loved him for so long... even before I knew it was as more than a friend. I guess fifth year during the tournament... everything we went through... I realized he was truly the love of my life."

She blushed. "Ron is such an idiot sometimes... I wish he could see how much I fancy him... I think I even love him, Beth."

"I think you love each other you're both just too shy to admit it," I said, making her blush more.

"I don't want to make the first move," she noted.

"Then wait. But if he doesn't hurry up then just bloody kiss him."

She laughed lightly.

After another half a week of waiting, the Polyjuice was finally ready.

"Everyone take their flask," I said, handing them around to the waiting boys while Hermione gave them each bags to hold their clothes once we'd changed.

"Remember who you've been assigned," Hermione said. "It'll be important once—"

"But should we all go?" Ron asked. "Erm... perhaps it should just be Harry and I... and maybe George."

"Hermione and I did not spend weeks making this potion and the necessary arrangements to be shut out!" I hissed. "I get you want to protect us but—"

"It's one thing hanging around the entrance under the Cloak but this is different," Ron insisted, looking very concerned. "Hermione's on the list of Muggle borns who didn't present themselves for interrogation!"

"And YOU'RE supposed to be dying of spattergroit at the Burrow!" I snapped.

"If anyone shouldn't go it's Harry and Beth," Hermione said. "They've got a ten thousand Galleon price on their heads—"

"Oh now you're shutting me out?" I hissed.

"Fine, Beth and I will say," Harry snapped. "Let us know if you ever defeat Voldemort, won't you?"

George let out a nervous laugh. Harry's hand jumped to his scar.

"You okay, Harry?" I asked.

"I'm fine," he said quickly.

George attempted to get the final decision in.

"I think we all need to go," he said. "We need to stick together and help. Plus, Beth and I know the most spells out of all of you so we HAVE to be there. And well Hermione's one of the masterminds behind it, Ron and Harry are... Ron and Harry. We HAVE to all go."

Ron bit his lip and looked sideways at Hermione.

"We are going," I said. "That's final."

_______

The next morning, George and I woke up early to finish prepping supplies for the Trio to begin their horcrux hunt.

"Today is probably going to be the last day we'll see them for... awhile," I mumbled, pushing more non perishables into the bag.

"They'll be okay," George said. "Don't worry."

I bit my lip and began pushing cooking utensils into the little bag. "I can't believe Dumbledore."

"What?" George said, looking up from where he was rummaging for the first aid kit.

"I can't believe him," I said. "In all those lessons with Harry he never gave them a plan or anything. How will they even know what they're doing?"

George stood up, and crossed his arms. "Yeah that was a bit unfair... but I'm sure he probably didn't know either. How could anyone know?"

"How can he expect three 17 year olds to figure it all out?" I mumbled.

"They're not just any 17 year olds though," George noted. "They're the Golden Trio."

I smiled slightly. "I guess, yeah... but it... it will get to them."

"I'd be shocked if it didn't," George said. "I think at some points it'll push them to their breaking point, but I have complete faith they will know their limits and let us know when they really need us."

"I hope Harry doesn't try to play the hero again and act like he doesn't need the help," I said. "I-I was sort of considering just... going with them from the start."

George winced. "We agreed we would go when they needed us. If Dumbledore wanted us along, he'd have made you go to lessons. He would have told us more. I think this is Harry's mission— he's the one with the connection, he has... something in him."

I looked down, and tightened my grip on the bag.

"I'm sure you'd be a big help," George said. "And I'm sure you're as worried as I am that something will go wrong. But I think we should trust them. Believe in them. They're not kids anymore, Beth, they're grown ups too. Maybe they're not the smartest when it comes to... I dunno, getting girlfriends, but they've got it in them to do this."

"I know," I said. "But Harry... I just have such a bad feeling about it. I don't know why."

George put his hand on my shoulder. "We will go when they need us. It'll give us time to report to the rest of the Order what's happened and see what we can contribute now before we get called to help. They need all hands on deck. And plus, you haven't fully healed and you know it."

"Fine," I mumbled, leaning onto his chest. I took a dee breath. "I don't want to lose him, George."

"Beth," he said, pushing away slightly. "You're not going to lose him."

"It just— the feeling!" I said, my lip trembling. "And Dumbledore— he just..."

"What about Dumbledore?" He inquired.

I drew a deep breath again. "Dumbledore... it's all questionable. Placing Harry in the care of those awful people when my g-godfather could have raised him all the same. Ignoring him when he had those awful dreams and making him learn Occlumency with a teacher Harry has issues with. Not being clear with his plan— not helping Harry more with this horcrux thing... I-I wonder sometimes if Dumbledore even cares what happens to him."

"You think Dumbledore may have just sent him into a death trap," George deduced.

I nodded. "I-I'm not sure how much he's ever cared for Harry, or for me— for that matter. It's... sketchy. I don't know if I trust it. Dumbledore knew more about all this, and he never bothered to explain. I think he knows something about Harry's fate— knows that prophecy. Remember how Dumbledore never wanted to tell me why Voldem— er— You Know Who didn't kill me as a baby? Even now I don't know WHY. And I deserved to know. I asked him for years and he said nothing. Dumbledore kept too many secrets and it... scares me."

George pulled me into a hug. "I'm sure... he had his reasons. I mean, Dumbledore's always been a bit mad, hasn't he? Perhaps this... this is his way of making sure you have control over your life. By not telling you things that might change your perception. Say for example he told you the reason Vol— You Know Who didn't kill you. And say it was bad and was... just shocking. Would you ever live your life the same? No. You'd lose control over everything you'd ever known."

I bit my lip. "You... you make a good point."

He cradled me closer and stroked my back.

"They'll be okay," he said. "They will be."

I heard a door open upstairs and pulled away, then went to the stove to make breakfast.

Kreacher, who was still very pleased with the locket Harry had given him, was mildly sad to see us go, and had promised to have a steak and kidney pie ready for us when we came back.

"Thank you for everything, Kreacher," I said, smiling as he bowed to all of us (including George and Hermione).

"Bless him," Ron said as we headed out into the hall. "To think I used to fantasize about cutting his head off and sticking it to a wall..."

George snorted and smacked his brother's arm.

We arrived at the Ministry at about a quarter to 8, and snuck into a smelly and deserted alleyway to watch for our people to show up.

"God it smells like ass here," Ron hissed.

"Lavender's ass?" George joked.

I covered my mouth to hide my laugh as Ron turned red.

Thank God Hermione hadn't heard, as she was waiting near the door under the cloak.

Her Ministry worker arrived promptly at 8, just as she was supposed to. Seeing no one around, Hermione stunned her and pulled her into the empty theater that was next to the alleyway.

"Mafalda Hopkirk," I mumbled. "Good. She's an assistant to the Improper Use of Magic Office."

I rummaged in her bag and pulled out her tokens and identification bag, and handed them to Hermione right as she dropped Mafalda's hair into the Polyjuice and drank it.

I then held the Invisibility Cloak up over her while she switched out of her own clothes, tossed them in a small purse with the Undetectable Extension Charm, and changed into Mafalda's outfit.

"We're running late," Harry announced. "Hurry— Mr Magical Maintenance will be here any second."

Hermione darted out, now looking like Mafalda, and went to the entrance just as said wizard arrived.

"Reg Cattermole," I whispered to Ron from under the Cloak. "Yours."

"Got it," he whispered back.

"Oh hello, Mafalda," Reg said to Hermione.

"Hello!" Hermione squeaked. "How are you today?"

"Not very good actually," he said. Hermione frowned.

"I'm sorry to hear you're under the weather," Hermione said. "Here, have a sweet."

She handed him one of the Puking Pastilles George had made last week.

"Eh? Oh no thank you—"

"I insist!" Hermione said, aggressively shaking the bag. Reg looked taken aback and took one reluctantly. Immediately he doubled over and began to vomit. Hermione yanked some hairs from his head.

"You'd better take the day off! You can't work in this state!" She shrieked. "I think you ought to go to St Mungo's and get them to sort you out!"

With a pop the wizard disappeared, leaving vomit all over the floor.

"That was disgusting," Hermione mumbled as she came back. I the hairs and put them in the potion while Ron changed into the uniform we'd gotten for him. Once he was dressed I handed the vial to Ron.

"Good one, Hermione," George said. "Ah, those Puking Pastilles do work miracles... to think you used to hate us for them, Hermione."

She scowled. "When you're giving them to unsuspecting first years it's an awful thing."

"Hey, they signed a consent form!" George said, smirking.

Hermione shrugged and went back to stand near the alley entrance.

The next man that arrived was Harry's.

"Albert Runcorn," I whispered. "Works closely with Thicknesse— he's the one investigating Muggleborns..."

Harry gagged in disgust as Hermione gave Albert a Nosebleed Nougat, leaving him with such a terrible nosebleed he passed out.

We left him in the theater with the unconscious Mafalda and slipped his hairs into the potion for Harry to drink. Once he'd changed his clothes, he, Ron, and Hermione stepped back.

"We need to stun them at the exact same time," I whispered to George as we crept up near the alley wall. "Otherwise it'll give us away."

He nodded and raised his wand.

Our people were a couple, both working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"There!" I whispered, seeing a man appear, holding a woman's hand closely.

Luckily, we managed to stun them at the exact same time and drag them into the theater, where Hermione prepared the potion as we changed.

We chugged it down immediately, and soon George and I were now Mr and Mrs Koracick.

"Your first name is— oh lucky, Greg," I said as I fixed George's tie. "Didn't change much."

"Meanwhile you're... Margaret," he said. "Nice. I don't know how the hell I'm going yo remember that, I don't know anyone named Margaret."

"Just call me honey or something," I said. "I expect these two do that, seeing as they were holding hands."

"Can it be baby?"

"That might be too abstract for them," I said quickly. "Come on... Greg. Harry— put the Cloak in your bag."

He did and we all trotted out into the open street.

"Remember, just step into the toilet and flush," I said as I dragged Hermione into the bathroom.

She trotted after me and we both went into the stalls, then flushed.

I found her almost immediately as we appeared on the main floor of the Ministry. It took us about five minutes to find the boys, but it wasn't too suspicious, luckily.

All around, I could see WANTED signs with Harry and I's face on them.

"Hey... honey," George said when we reunited, slipping his hand around my waist and letting it slide down.

"Yeah, hand higher," I muttered as we all began to walk to the elevators. "I don't know how intimate these two act in public. Hand holding might be the extent."

He shrugged and brought his hand higher.

We were just about to enter the lift when an angry voice yelled "Cattermole!"

I looked over my shoulder and tensed.

"Death Eater," I whispered in George's ear as Hermione, Harry, and Ron all turned around.

Yaxley came forward, looking absolutely furious.

"He's the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," I hissed to George. "Our boss."

He nodded, and turned back to Yaxley.

"Good morning, Yaxley," he said.

"Morning, Koracick," Yaxley said gruffly. Before turning to Ron, he looked at George and I. He fixated his eyes on me.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You're back early," he said. "How's the baby?"

I felt my chest tighten again.

"G-Good," I said softly.

"I'm glad you're not like the other women in this department that decide to take their full maternity leave," Yaxley huffed. "It disgusts me— if you're ready to work, you come back. No excuses."

"It annoys me too," I said quickly, catching onto his drift. "I didn't need the full... three months. Just one."

"Good," Yaxley said. I suppose that meant I'd guessed right. "What'd you name it?"

Crap. Was it a girl or a boy?

"Alex," George said immediately.

Yaxley furrowed his eyebrows. "Wasn't it a girl."

"Short for Alexandra," I said. "After Greg's grandmother."

"Oh, nice," Yaxley said. He smiled wryly.

I suppose perhaps he was close 'friends' with the Koracicks?

I hope that didn't mean we were Death Eaters.

"Well, for having given birth a month ago you look well," Yaxley noted, looking me up and down. I swear what I saw in his eyes was lust.

I hoped Margaret wasn't having some sort of affair with him.

"She heals fast," George said a bit sharply.

Yaxley then turned to face Ron.

"You know Cattermole, I requested someone from Magical Maintenance to sort out my office," Yaxley said. "It's still raining in there."

"Raining...in your office?" Ron asked nervously. "That's— that's not good, is it?"

Yaxley looked at George as if to say 'can you believe this fool?' then turned back to Ron.

"You think it's funny, Cattermole, do you?" He snarled.

"No of course not—"

"You realize that I am on my way downstairs to interrogate your wife, Cattermole?" Yaxley spat. "In fact, I'm quite surprised you're not down there holding her hand while she waits. Already given her up as a bad job, have you? Probably wise. Be sure and marry a pureblood next time."

Hermione looked shocked, and Yaxley for some reason turned to me.

I looked at Ron with fake disgust, which luckily diverted Yaxley's attention back to him.

Ron was at a loss for words.

"But if my wife here were accused of being a Mudblood," Yaxley said, "and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement needed a job doing, I would make it my priority to do that job, Cattermole. Not like I would ever marry a Mudblood, but all in all.... Do you understand me?

"Yes," Ron whispered quickly.

"Attend to it, Cattermole, and if my office is not completely dry within an hour, your wife's Blood Status will be in even graver doubt than it is now," he threatened. He turned to George and I. "I have some paperwork in my office that I need for the next case. If you could please go with this imbecile, make sure he stops the rain, and bring the file? It's under the name Andersen. Also, congratulations on the baby."

He then turned on his heel and left, and we all crowded into the lift— luckily without any other people.

"What am I going to do?" Ron squeaked. "If I don't turn up, my wife— I mean Cattermole's wife—"

"Well George and I are coming with you," I said. "We can make sure the rain stops then take the file down." I turned to Harry and Hermione. "You two find Umbridge."

The lift stopped at the fourth floor and I yanked George and Ron out.

"Are you sure it's here?" Ron asked.

"No," I said. "We just need to check the catalog over here..."

I darted to where a large column with names and room numbers were listed.

"Crap, we have to go back down to the second floor," I muttered, heading to another lift. "This— this is the floor for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. I think... Cedric's dad works on this floor."

"We could say hello," George offered.

I shook my head. "Absolutely no one can know we are here. Not even your dad or Bill or Kingsley, if we see them, okay?"

"Damn it," George mumbled.

The lift opened and I pulled Ron and George in, and clicked the button for the second floor.

When the doors closed, I lifted my sleeve.

"Oh thank God," I whispered, seeing there was no Dark Mark.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Yaxley was so friendly with us, I was afraid we might be Death Eaters too," I said, covering my face.

George checked his sleeve and also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Probably just his Workers of the Month, I dunno," he said. "And... are you okay."

"No," I mumbled. "I'm being stalked by people with babies."

I subconsciously rubbed my stomach. "She had a baby. And she's back from maternity leave really soon. How much could she care?"

"Well we don't know her story," George said quickly. "Maybe they really need the money..."

I winced and shrugged.

"We'll be parents," he said, taking my hand. "I promise you. Whatever it takes."

I smiled a bit as the doors opened.

We strode into Yaxley's office and saw that the expression 'it was raining cats and dogs' applied here.

Obviously there weren't actual cats and dogs falling from the ceiling.

In case you didn't know, the phrase is said to come from the Greek expression 'cata doxa' which can imply an unbelievable event. Pretty much, it was raining UNBELIEVABLY hard in Yaxley's office.

"How the hell does it even get this bad?" George mumbled as Ron stepped into the huge lake that was on Yaxley's carpet.

"What do I do?" Ron cried.

"Try Finite Incantatem!" I said.

He waved his wand, and nothing happened.

"Maybe an Atmospheric Charm?" George suggested. He raised his own wand.

"Crap," I said. "There... there's another spell... starts with a M..."

"What?" George cried as Ron blasted more spells at the ceiling.

I then remembered.

"Meteolojinx Recanto!" I said, taking out my wand. I pointed it at the ceiling and cast the spell.

The rain stopped immediately.

"Thanks," Ron said, stepping out, now completely drenched.

"George, you dry him up while I dry up what's in the office," I said, waving my wand so the water on the floor vanished.

It took us about half an hour to clean up everything and make sure no papers were damaged.

"Here's the Andersen file," George said, holding it in his hand. "Let's go..."

We exited the office and headed back to the lifts.

We then saw a familiar face.

"Arthur," George said nonchalantly, shaking Mr Weasley's hand.

"Greg, how are you?" Mr Weasley said.

Thank God, it seemed like Mr Weasley and Mr Koracick were friends. I suppose George must've known that.

"Good, and yourself?" George said.

"As well as can be expected," Mr Weasley said, looking worried. He turned to me. "My God, Margaret, you're working again already? You've got another two months of maternity leave, don't you?"

"They need me here," I said quickly, feeling my chest tighten again.

"How's the little one?" Mr Weasley asked with a small smile. "I was just telling Molly you've both finally decided to settle down and have a baby— she wanted to know."

I faked a smile. "She's good."

"That's very good to hear," Mr Weasley said. "Well I'll see you around!"

He then left.

My lip trembled.

"Hey hey—" George said quickly, putting his hands on my shoulders. "Beth come on... we can't break character right now, okay?"

"I know I know," I said, holding back tears.

We entered the lift, and halfway down we heard alarms.

"They definitely know we're here now," George hissed.

When the doors opened again, we saw several people running with Hermione and Harry.

"Reg!" A woman screamed, throwing herself onto Ron and hugging him. "Runcorn let me out, he attacked Umbridge and Yaxley and he's told all of us to leave the country! I think we better do it, Reg, I really do! Let's hurry home and fetch the children an—"

"We need to get out, now!" Hermione said, cutting off Mrs Cattermole. "We can get trapped inside— like how they locked it down when you were here!"

"If we move fast it won't happen!" I said.

Harry turned back to look at the group of people behind him, which I assume were all Muggleborns waiting for trial.

"Who's got wands?" He inquired. Half raised their hands.

"Ok those without wands attach yourself to somebody who has. We'll need to be fast before they stop us," he ordered. "Come on!"

We sprinted into the lift and surprisingly managed to cram everyone into the two lifts available.

"Let's send our Patronuses to delay them!" Harry hissed, waving his wand.

Hermione, Ron, George, and I followed his lead.

Soon, the two hippopotamuses, the terrier, and the otter were lumbering behind the stag to attack our persecutors.

"Level Eight, Atrium," the cool woman's voice rang into the elevator.

"Harry that's full of people!" I cried.

"But that's where the fireplaces are!" Harry bellowed.

The doors opened and several people who saw us, ran to seal off the fireplaces.

"Harry! What do we do?" Hermione asked.

"Follow me," Harry said, leading the people to a fireplace.

"What's up, Albert?" A wizard asked nervously.

"This lot need to leave before you seal the exits," Harry said.

"We've been told to seal all exits and not let anyone—"

"Are you contradicting me?" Harry snarled. "Would you like me to have your family tree examined, like I had Dirk Cresswell's?"

The wizard jumped nervously.

"Sorry!" He gasped. "I didn't mean nothing, Albert..but I thought they were in for questioning and—"

"Their blood is pure," Harry snapped. "Purer than many of yours, I daresay. Off you go!"

I rushed to the back of the crowd and began urging people through the fireplace in pairs.

"Mary!" A voice called. Ron, Mrs Cattermole, and I turned to see the real Reg Cattermole coming back.

"R-Reg?" Mary asked.

Ron cursed loudly and I looked nervously between the two Cattermoles.

"What's going on? What is this?" He asked.

"SEAL THE EXIT!" I heard Yaxley roar as he came running out of a lift.

The wizard that had not wanted to listen to Harry raised his wand. George punched him, knocking him unconscious.

"Come on!" Harry screamed. Mary Cattermole was more confused than ever when Ron let go of her and ran to Harry and Hermione.

George was still herding the people into the fireplace as Yaxley caught up to us, and gripped my arm harshly.

"I know who you must be!" Yaxley snarled. "You're Elizabeth Potter!"

I desperately tried to free myself of his grip.

"DUCK!"

I ducked my head down just as George reached his arm over to punch Yaxley.

George yanked me back to the fireplaces and took Ron's hand just as Hermione Disapparated us.

The only problem was, Yaxley had hung onto my robes.

"No!" I screamed as we landed on the doorway of Grimmauld Place.

"Let go, George!" Ron yelled.

He did so, and with a loud crack, the trio disappeared, leaving George and I staring down at the unconscious figure of Yaxley sprawled on the doorstep.


	82. Chapter 82

"We could just wrap him in tinfoil, put a bow, and leave him at the Ministry's doorstep."

I looked over at the unconscious Yaxley, which we'd moved to the couch.

"You know, I'm not too sure they'd take kindly to that," I said. "The Ministry isn't catching Death Eaters anymore, remember?"

"Well, we could put a note saying we babysat Yaxley and our job is done," George suggested.

"George, you discussed killing him at least five times in the past hour."

George smirked and happily took a bite out of the steak and kidney pie Kreacher had made.

"How can you eat at a time like this?" I muttered, picking at the pie with my fork.

"Because I'm hungry," George said.

"There's a Death Eater in our house."

"Doesn't change the fact that I'm hungry."

"He could wake up at any minute."

"Then I'll be well fed and ready to fight."

I winced. "Doesn't this violate the Secret Keeper charm? This house— it can't be safe anymore."

"Well good thing our plan was to leave," George said. "We can dispose of him and head to Shell Cottage once we collect our things."

"More pie?" Kreacher asked George, trotting up to the table.

"I'm good thanks— this is wonderful," George said between mouthfuls.

"Mistress?" Kreacher asked me.

I waved my hand. "I still need to finish my first portion. Thank you though... get some for yourself. That's an order."

Kreacher didn't object.

George munched loudly. "You know, maybe we don't have to wipe his memories."

"George we can't let him remember he was here when he wakes up," I said. "Even if we ship him to Russia he'll know— and return, and give us away."

"Well he was unconscious on impact," he said. "I doubt he knows he ended up here."

"Do we want to risk it?" I asked.

"Well it'd be funny so they can know we just finessed them—"

"PLEASE stop using that word, this isn't a joke, George."

"I'm trying to liven the mood," he said.

"You're making me want to lose my hearing," I said.

"Hey," he said, tapping the space where his ear once was. "I'm still sensitive to those jokes."

"Sorry," I said quickly. "I didn't mean—"

"I'm kidding," he said, putting his hand on mine. "Beth calm down, it's going to be okay."

"Is it really?" I mumbled, rubbing my arms. "Who knows where the others are now and who knows what we're going to do with this bloke—"

Yaxley groaned and George waved his wand, stunning him again.

"If you keep stunning him, he'll have permanent brain damage," I said.

"Wouldn't be the worst thing," George said, finishing his pie. "Baby eat, come on."

"Please don't call me that," I said in a small voice, wincing a bit.

George frowned. "Beth I'm sorry—"

"I wish we'd checked," I said miserably. "When she came to see him off that day— we should have checked why she hadn't gone in. I assumed she was sick but she— if I KNEW she was on maternity leave, I never would have chosen her..."

I shivered. "I seriously am being stalked by people with babies and it's so annoying. The last thing I need is for us to arrive to Shell Cottage and for Bill and Fleur to announce they're expecting or something..."

George looked sadly at me. "Beth, we will be parents. We can go and adopt a baby who's been left alone and take care of it, give it the love it deserves..."

"I know," I mumbled. "I know... and I will be so up for it but I wanted... I wanted the whole experience of... of announcing to you that we were going to be parents... picking out names before finding out the gender... talking to it from out here... I remember your Mum used to do that when she was pregnant with Ginny..."

George sighed and squeezed my hand again.

We decided, after I finally finishing my steak and kidney pie, we needed to pack everything we needed up before we left.

George guarded Yaxley while I went to our room and put our clothes in a bag. Once I'd finished, I went downstairs to Kreacher.

"Mistress is leaving?" He asked quietly.

"Yes Kreacher," I said, smiling. "Thank you for everything. You can stay here as long as you want. Make sure you eat right. We... we don't know if this house is still safe. I hope it is. You are free to attack anyone who hurts you. You are free to go to Hogwarts if you'd like, and be around other house elves."

Kreacher bowed. "Kreacher thanks Mistress. Kreacher will go to Hogwarts when Kreacher is needed by the other house elves. They know Kreacher is here in his Mistress' house."

"Good," I said, bowing back to him. "We can't thank you enough."

"No trouble for Kreacher, Mistress," he said.

I then went to the living room, where Yaxley was still on the couch.

"So the plan," he said. "Take him to St Mungo's. Have a proper memory charm put on him so he forgets whatever he saw after we Disapparated. Leave him there."

"Yes," I said.

George nodded. "I wish... I wish we could just wipe his memories completely."

"I wish too," I said. "But he... he did mention he has a wife. She has to care something for him, I believe. I think she'd want him to remember her. And since we don't know if we met her before or after joining Vol—You Know Who... we can't risk it."

"Okay," George said, picking Yaxley up and throwing him over his shoulder. "Damn he's heavy... Katie said you have to apparate into the room where you were before right?"

"Yes," I said, taking his hand as we walked out of the house.

When we reached the doorstep I closed the door, and drew a deep breath.

"We'll be back one day," he said, smiling. "We will be."

I half smiled in return, grasped his hand tightly and turned on the spot.

Katie shrieked as we appeared beside her.

"Holy shit," she mumbled, fixing the papers in her clipboard. "You scared me."

"Sorry," I said as George laid Yaxley down.

Katie pushed George gently away and began to examine Yaxley.

"How many times did you stun him?" She asked.

"I think four," George said.

"Perfect," she said. "Not enough to cause permanent brain damage, but enough so he might have amnesia... and if I do the memory charm right, then he will need to be on bedrest for a few months. Won't be ready to join the Death Eater ranks for awhile."

"Thank you so much," I said as she pulled me into a hug.

"You're welcome," she said. "I was a bit scared when your huge hippo Patronus lumbered up to me but I'm glad to help. Oh! Guess what?"

"Alex owled you," I said, raising my eyebrows.

"Yes! Wow!" She said. "I'm glad he's so brilliant, he knew not to write about anything that happened. He's sweet..."

She looked at me and sighed.

"I love Bixby," she said. "A-And I always will... but... I don't want to stay hung up on him."

"And you shouldn't," I said. "Bixby loved you so much Katie. He wouldn't want you to be miserable for the rest of your life. You have more love to give. None of us are mad that you're moving on. It's healthy."

Katie smiled, and I saw tears brimming in her eyes.

She must've felt guilty for liking Alex.

"So," she said, trying to change the subject. "Did you hear about Batavia?"

"Yep," I said, smiling wryly. "Poor thing. She needs Oliver."

"He came back," Katie said happily. Then she frowned. "Well... it's not that good. Their team was attacked."

"What?" George cried. "No!"

"They were," Katie said solemnly. "They came back home two weeks ago and they got ambushed, and three of the members were dragged to the Ministry to be examined because they were Muggleborn. Oliver ended up with a concussion after he and the others tried to fight off the Death Eaters. He came here— that's how I found out."

"That's horrible," I cried. "Batavia was afraid of that— that something might happen to him. I thought she meant him getting hurt in practice but... maybe she meant this too."

"Yeah..." Katie said. "So now he's back and they're with her mum and sister in America. Oliver brought them over after I released him here, and they're safe now."

"I'm glad to hear that," I said. "I'm glad..."

"I think he proposed a bit too hastily," Katie said with a loud sigh. "He had been planning to propose on their anniversary in October. He had a whole speech planned. But with the baby... his grand gesture kind of would've been late and Batavia might have gotten the wrong idea."

"The wrong idea?" George asked. "What? Why? I would have thought she'd get the wrong idea with him proposing right after he found out she was pregnant."

"Well for one," Katie said, "he HATES leaving things undone in his life, you know that. And he knew they could get ambushed. They did. He— he really did nearly die. When he found out she was pregnant... he told me she looked afraid. They'd agreed not to have kids until the war was over. Batavia had been worried that with the ongoing war, he'd die and leave her and the baby alone. Think of it, if she tells him in August that she's pregnant and he doesn't propose til October, she might think he wasn't sure if he would stay. You know Batavia overthinks sometimes. I think he just thought he needed to show her that he was all in, and committed to this even if it wasn't part of their original plan."

"That does make sense," George said.

"How far along is she?" I asked quietly.

"Two and months now," Katie said. "And oh! America has such advanced technology... their mediwitches have a way to find the gender out at eight weeks instead of ten, like here. Guess what?"

"It's a boy?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes!" Katie squealed. "She and Oliver already decided his name will be Bixby Oliver Wood."

"That's really sweet," George said, smiling. "Damn, Oliver Wood is going to be a dad..."

I tried very hard not to burst into tears.

"Well," George said, sensing my distress, "we're going to head out."

"Yes!" Katie said, looking sideways at Yaxley. "We'll make up a story how we got a call from a witch in Kent about him being found on the street. Be safe you two, please!"

"We'll try," I said, hugging her again. "You take care too."

She waved at us, and George took my hand to Apparate us to Shell Cottage.

We landed right outside, and I immediately breathed in the salty scent of the sea.

George knocked on the door, and after a few seconds it flew open.

"Beth!" Fleur cried, throwing her arms around me. "And George oh— thank goodness you are okay! Bill! They're 'ere!"

"Hey Fleur," I said, smiling.

"Come in, come in," she said, helping us inside and closing the door.

Bill entered from another room.

"Oh thank God," he said, pulling George and I in for a hug. "You guys are okay... after we heard what happened at the Ministry we weren't sure..."

"We're all okay," I said. "The trio started their... mission. But they were okay when we left them."

"Grimmauld Place might not be safe anymore," George said. "We weren't sure... so we thought it was a better idea to come stay here."

"That was a really good idea," Bill said. "You guys are safe here."

He looked up at Fleur. "Today is Friday September 5th right?"

"Yes," she said. "Today iz the day when they are coming to dinner, remember?"

"Brilliant!" Bill said. "That's perfect— we've got people coming over tonight."

"Who?" George asked.

"Well Fred and Lee," Bill said. "And—"

"FRED AND LEE!" George cried, looking happier than I'd seen him in awhile. He picked me up and spun me around. "No way! Sweet Merlin!"

"I knew you'd be excited," Bill said with a smile. "We've also got Kingsley and Remus."

"Ah," I said, and George frowned.

"Remus told us about your row," Bill said. "You got through to him Beth. He's still with Tonks."

"Good," I said. "He was being so unappreciative..."

Bill nodded. "Yeah it was harsh, considering..."

I sighed. Then I looked up nervously. "You guys aren't expecting, right?"

"Oh no," Fleur said, giggling slightly. "We're not having any babies until zis war is over. I will not raise a poor baby in 'iding. 'Orrible thing it would be."

"Good," I said, sighing in relief.

Fleur smiled, and Bill patted my shoulder.

"You guys can get settled upstairs," he said. "I assume you don't mind sharing a bed, right?"

"Not at all," I said, taking out my bag. "Thank you... we'll be back once we organize all our stuff."

"Take your time," Bill said. "We'll let you know when they're here."

George and I went upstairs and spent about two hours fixing up the room to accommodate the supplies we'd brought.

"You really needed to bring that lamp?" George asked.

"It was Sirius'," I said. "I like it."

I set the lamp next to my side of the bed.

George came from behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

"I love you," he mumbled, kissing my cheek.

"I love you too," I said, closing my eyes and leaning into his chest.

"I've missed Lee," George said. "I'm glad we'll get to see him."

"Me too," I said. "Are him and Alicia still together?"

"Yeah, they share an apartment somewhere in... I forget where but it's just off London," he said.

"I hope Fred's spoken to Angelina," I said. "I like those two together."

"She'll come around," George said. "They're meant to be."

"Meant to be," I said softly, lacing my fingers with George's. "We were meant to be."

"Fuck yeah we were," George said, resting his chin on my shoulder. "I think my mum would've had a heart attack if we hadn't ended up together."

"I'd have had a heart attack too, are you kidding?" I asked. "It's always been you."

"I remember when we met," George said, kissing my neck softly, "I felt like a literal angel had walked into my life."

I giggled.   
  


" _Elizabeth, this is Mrs Weasley."_

_Three year old me looked up with big eyes at Mrs Weasley, not letting go of my godfather as I clung tight to his chest._

_"She still isn't talking?" Mrs Weasley asked with worry lines etched on her face._

_"Sometimes she does, a little bit," my godfather sighed. "She's still a little shocked, what with her random little transformations into random animals and well... randomly turning invisible when she's mad. I think she needs someone her age."_

_"Well, I'm glad I can solve that problem," Mrs Weasley said. "Come inside, Remus."_

_My godfather stepped in and set me down. I hugged his leg, and pressed my face on his thigh._

_"Fred!" Mrs Weasley called. "George! Come downstairs."_

_There was a crash and a series of laughs._

_"MUM!" Bill's voice rang out. "They just— not again!"_

_Mrs Weasley sighed. "Those two... they keep taking the hinges off Bill's door."_

_"Do they really?" My godfather asked with a laugh._

_"George will stand on Fred shoulder's to get the top one," she said. "I don't know how they learned that...."_

_There was more laughter and two identical boys my age ran down._

_I whimpered and held my godfather's legs tighter._

_"Fred, George, this is Elizabeth," Mrs Weasley said, grabbing their arms as they ran to her. "Say hi."_

_"Hullo," Fred said, waving at me._

_"Hi," George said, waving more enthusiastically. "I'm George."_

_"Beth," I said quietly, looking up at my godfather._

_"You can go play," he said._

_I let go of his leg and slowly followed a running Fred and George to the stairs._

_"I worry, Molly, that she's so sad she'll just decide to never speak again," I heard my godfather say. "She's still so confused about what she saw with James and Lily being killed and about why she's turning invisible and turning into animals..."_

_His voice trailed off when George grabbed my hand and pulled me upstairs._

_"Where are we going?" I wanted to say, but I didn't, because seconds later we ended up in their bedroom._

_"Watch this!" Fred said, diving under his bed and grabbing a dungbomb. George snickered as Fred ran out._

_"Come on," George said, smiling as he pulled me up another flight of stairs._

_I could see an eleven year old Bill fixing his door._

_"What now— oh hi," he said, when he saw me._

_Fred discreetly handed me the dungbomb after I waved._

_"Throw it," George whispered in my ear._

_"What'd you tell her?" Bill asked suspiciously, not seeing the dungbomb._

_"She doesn't talk a lot!" Fred announced._

_"I told her to say hi," George lied._

_I was slightly confused, so I threw the dungbomb._

_Bill yelled and covered his face as the smoke burst out, and the twins laughed loudly._

_"Yay, Elizabeth!" Fred said._

_"That was funny," George giggled. "Can we call you Beth?"_

_I nodded, and smiled._

_Then I laughed._

_"Is that Elizabeth I hear, laughing?" My godfather's voice rang out._

_"I suppose so, they've probably thrown another dungbomb," Mrs Weasley sighed._

_"Well good for them," my godfather said. "I think... I think it might just be what she needs to start talking again."_   
  


"You were so pretty," George said, kissing my neck again. "So damn cute. I'm telling you... you were so calm and quiet when we were kids. Then you arrived at Hogwarts and since Mum and Dad weren't around, you went full trickster and that... that my dear, is when I realized I was falling in love with you."

That stirred another memory, from my fourth year, when George and I had first kissed after he'd given Harry the Marauder's Map.

( **A/N: The following is from Chapter 22** )  
  


" _I was a dick," George said immediately as I sat down on the couch. "I was an absolute idiot."_

_I raised an eyebrow and he sighed, sitting down next to me._

_"I've fancied you since you came to Hogwarts," George confessed. "I know all my brothers saw you as just another sister but I didn't. You understood me too much to be like a sister. For the longest time I considered you a friend— my best friend. But then you arrived here, eleven years old, prettier than ever, and you were showing your true self. When we grew up you were always so shy, but when we were at school you started revealing a reckless side that I went CRAZY for...."_   
  


"So that's when you knew?" I said softly, blushing. "When I came in and started planning your pranks?"

"You used to help when we were kids but you progressed to the mastermind right when you got away from the people that raised us," George said. "It was incredibly attractive."

I blushed and leaned back, kissing him again.

"I think we should take a nap before dinner," he said, yawning. "God my feet hurt..."

"Come on," I said, climbing out of his arms. "Let's sleep."

I laid down on the bed and George kicked off his shoes. He crawled in next to me, and then laid his head on my chest, wrapping his arms around me.

I ran my fingers through his hair and hummed lightly until I heard his breathing become steady.

Then I allowed myself to fall asleep.

________

That night, we sat at the table, and discussed a concept Lee had come up with.

"I think it'd be really useful," Lee said, picking at his plate. "We've all heard there's a sort of mission. We all want to follow up with Harry. Potterwatch is the perfect name for it. Think of it— The Daily Prophet and the Wizarding Wireless Network are both under Death Eater control. This would give an opportunity for supporters of Harry and Elizabeth to know the truth about what recent events are happening without their cruel filters. We could also provide information about deaths, because so many people are separated from their families right now. It'd bring them peace to know. Fred and I've been working on spells to set it up so we can't be hacked, and with the right password, a true supporter will be able to tune in at a certain time on certain days."

"I think it's a brilliant idea," Kingsley said, beaming. "I really do. Remus and I can provide information about the newest events and some deaths, and you and Fred can attempt to liven the mood, in a way."

"You could use nicknames," I suggested. "If Death Eaters happened to listen, they'd never be able to find out who you were, and never would be able to target your families."

"Excellent," Fred said. "I'm glad you're all up for it. Beth— you can help us with more spells to make sure our connection expands across the whole country... George you can help Lee and I will nicknames and scripts... Kingsley and Remus, you guys will be welcome all the time even if you don't have information."

"It really is a wonderful plan," Bill said. "This is going to help us move through... and keep everyone informed enough."

"All Lee's idea," Fred said, ruffling Lee's hair.

My godfather looked at me from across the table.

"We'll meet up more in the following months to have this up and running by November, the latest," Fred said, standing up. He hugged George.

I cleared my throat and collected plates, then went to help Fleur in the kitchen.

"Ah, no," she said, waving me away. "I 'ave it, don't worry. You don't need to 'elp."

"I want to," I said.

"Go talk to Remus," she said. "'E 'as been worried about you."

I sighed. "Do I have to?"

"For me," she said. "Please."

"For you," I agreed, and went back into the other room.

My godfather was waiting by the door.

"I'm sorry," he said, before I even got a chance to speak. "It was insensitive of me. I should have thought it through. I just... I didn't want Harry to get hurt."

"I know," I mumbled. "Just... don't take it for granted."

He nodded, and pulled me into his arms.

I hugged him back, resting my head against his chest.

"It's a boy," he said softly. "The baby. Only Dora's mother and we know. I-I want to keep it a surprise for awhile."

"Congrats," I said, feeling my chest tight. "I'm sure he's going to be handsome."

"I hope so," my godfather said. "I used to be good looking when I was young."

We both laughed lightly.

"I've always loved hearing your laugh," he said. "Since you were little— your little giggle would be enough to brighten my day. I hope he laughs like you did."

"He will," I said. "You'll get to be there to hear his first laugh too— it'll be sweet."

"I'm going to have a son," he mumbled, rubbing my back.

"You are," I said softly. "A mini you."

He laughed again. "I remember when James first found out Lily was pregnant... oh how excited he was. He started picking out names before he even knew if you were a boy or a girl."

I smiled. "Have you considered names?"

"Not yet," he said. "But soon."

Lee and Fred tapped my shoulder and I pulled away slightly to hug them.

"I should be going," my godfather said.

"I'll see you around," I said, hugging him again as he grabbed his coat.

"See you," he said. He waved and then Disapparated.

_______

George and I worked hard with the others to ensure that Potterwatch would be up and running by November, just as Fred and Lee had wanted.

It hadn't been easy to figure out all the spell combinations we needed, and at one point I'd had to look back at my old Charms books (which I luckily kept).

Eventually we'd figured it out, and launched the network.

December came and my birthday passed. It was a small celebration, with only Fred, Lee, Kingsley, my godfather, George, Bill, and Fleur.

Unfortunately inviting others would break the Secret Keeper spell, so we couldn't have Mr and Mrs Weasley over.

"You're nineteen now," George said, kissing my cheek once we'd finished serving the slices of cake.

"Yep," I said, giving him a forkful of cake in the mouth.

"Fleur is a brilliant cook," he said. "I wonder how she got the frosting to taste like the one at Hogwarts... she was only there for half a year."

"Maybe she asked for the recipe when she was there," I said, taking a sip of milk.

There was a knock on the door.

Everyone tensed.

"What the hell?" Bill mumbled, raising his wand.

"Beth, Fleur, get back," Kingsley said as he and my godfather stood up.

George quickly pushed me back while Lee pulled Fleur to stand beside me.

They all raised their wands and crowded by the door.

Bill carefully listened, then opened the door.

"RON!" George yelled.

"What?" Fleur shrieked.

I ran forward as Ron walked in, and Bill closed the door.

"Ron!" I cried. "You— what— why—"

"Hi," he said sheepishly, looking around. "Er— happy birthday Beth. E-Excuse me— I need to talk to George and Beth. Alone."

"Of course," Bill said, looking confused as to why he was alone.

I was thinking the same thing.

George led Ron and I upstairs to our room and closed the door.

Ron then proceeded to explain everything that'd happened after they'd Disapparated from Grimmauld Place.

He explained how they had had no idea what to do for a long period of time and had taken turns wearing the locket. They noticed it made them irritable and it'd caused more tension between them.

Ron admitted he felt angry that Harry had no plan, and that Dumbledore had left them with nothing, and two days ago he'd left.

He talked about how he'd ended up in the hands of Snatchers and had just escaped, and decided to come see us at Shell Cottage.

"You're going back, right?" I asked frantically, furrowing my eyebrows.

"I will, eventually," Ron said. "But I think I need to stay here for a bit. Lay low. Besides— I don't even know where they are anymore. I need your help to get back. And I think... I think you'll be needing to go back with me."

"Of course," I said, looking at George, who nodded.

Ron managed to explain to the others the best he could what had happened, without necessarily revealing that they were searching for Horcruxes.

He'd then proceeded to stay with us for the rest of the month, and helped with planning for Potterwatch airings by making suggestions for the script.

Meanwhile, he, George, and I worked on mapping all the places where and what other Horcruxes might be based on the information we'd learned from Harry after his sessions with Dumbledore.

When January rolled in, Ron started going on weekly expeditions to the Forest of Dean to try and find out where Harry and Hermione were.

But one day he'd come back bruised and bloody, narrowly escaping another group of Snatchers.

It wasn't until the end of January that we had Potterwatch in a good enough place so we could leave. Lee had insisted we needed to stay until we'd worked out all the kinks, since I was the one who knew how to work the spells we'd placed on the network.

The only problem left was to figure out where Harry and Hermione could possibly be.

Luckily, this was where the Deluminator had come in handy.

"We need to follow this," Ron said, holding it up. "I swear to you, I heard Hermione saying my name. I think... if we follow it.. we'll find them."

"This expedition could take weeks," George said, wincing.

"That's why we need to leave now," Ron insisted.

We'd ended up saying hasty goodbyes, and heading out with our bags to find the source of Hermione's voice.

I don't think I need to go into detail about the joirney, since it was mostly walking, listening, and sleeping.

Thankfully, one day in what I calculated to be the second week of February, we ended up in a familiar place.

"This is the Forest of Dean, isn't it?" I asked, looking around.

"I think so," Ron said. "It's louder— they're somewhere here."

"It's getting dark," George mumbled. "We should—"

"Look!" Ron cried.

We looked abruptly to where he was pointing.

"Is that—?"

"It's a Patronus!" Ron yelled, sprinting forward. "HARRY!"

"Ron!" I cried, running after him. "It— it's not Harry's Patronus! That's a doe!"

But he wasn't listening, and holding the Deluminator up to his ear, kept running.

"Fuck," George hissed as we ran.

When we reached a clearing, Ron stopped.

"It's really loud here," he said. "I think— HARRY!"

I whirled around to where he was looking just in time to see a figure dive into the water of a frozen pond nearby.

"What the fuck?" I cried, sprinting forward.

Ron, George, and I ran to the edge of the pond, and could distinctly see the figure of Harry inside— swimming toward... the sword of Godric Gryffindor.

"HARRY!" I yelled, kneeling where he'd made a hole in the ice. "HARRY!"

"Crap!" Ron said. "Look how he's thrashing around and holding his neck! He has the locket on!"

"He's going to drown!" I cried. "Can we summon—?"

I didn't even get to finish because Ron dived into the water.

"RON!" George bellowed. "RON— RON!"

Moments later, Ron burst out, with Harry in his arms.

"I-I'm going to get the sword!" Ron spluttered, diving back in when George and I got a hold of Harry.

"No!" George yelled. "RON—"

Harry coughed and spluttered, drenched in water. I saw the locket of Salazar Slytherin was tight around his neck— and was stuck to his flesh.

"Find that dittany bottle Fleur gave us," I told George as I took out my wand and pressed it on Harry's chest.

He yelled as the locket sizzled and disconnected from his skin.

George quickly poured some dittany on it, and I yanked the locket off Harry.

There was a loud coughing sound and Ron broke out of the water.

George threw himself in his direction and yanked Ron and the sword out.

"You absolute idiot," George hissed.

"Tell HIM that!" Ron coughed, pointing Harry. Harry slowly sat up and coughed.

"Ron?" He spluttered. "Beth? George—?"

"Are you MENTAL?" Ron told Harry sharply. "Why the HELL—" he took a deep breath "didn't you take the locket off before diving?"

Harry just shook his head wildly.

"It was you?" Harry gasped, looking at us. "You cast the doe?"

Ron looked confused.

"What? My Patronus is a terrier," he said. "Beth and George have a hippopotamus. I thought it was you doing it!"

"My Patronus is a stag!" Harry said.

"Oh yeah no antlers huh," Ron said.

There was a beat of silence as Harry looked at us with big eyes. He looked at Ron, and his jaw twitched.

"How come you're here?" He asked.

"Well I've... come back," Ron stammered. "If you still want me. And... and I think we need Beth and George's help now, okay?"


	83. Chapter 83

"So... how did you find us?"

"We've been searching for nearly a week all over the place," I said. "Ron was leading us because of the Deluminator and we couldn't pinpoint anything but at least we got here."

"The Deluminator?" Harry asked.

"We'll explain later," George said, seeing Ron was blushing.

Hermione would need to hear this.

"Did you see anyone else?" Harry asked, looking around nervously, and wrapping the blanket I'd given him tighter around himself.

"No," Ron said. "I did think I saw something move over there but by then I was running to the pool because we saw you dive in."

"What I want to know is how that bloody sword got in there," George said with a puzzled expression. "Who has the time, the dedication..."

"Maybe the person who cast the Patronus put it there," Harry said.

"Do we know anyone with a doe Patronus?" I asked.

"I don't remember seeing one in the DA," Harry said.

"Crap," I murmured.

Ron looked at the sword.

"Reckon this is the real one?" He asked. "Because if it is then it belongs to Beth."

"Only one way to find out," Harry said. He held up the locket.

"Let's destroy it," He said. Ron handed me the sword but Harry shook his head.

"You do it Ron," Harry said. "You got the sword."

Ron's eyes widened.

"R-Really?" He asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "Come on."

Ron looked at me and I nodded.

"I really don't fancy doing that," I said honestly.

Ron grasped the sword firmly and nodded. Harry took the locket in his hands and spoke in Parseltongue. It snapped open.

"I can't do this," Ron said, fiddling with the sword in his hand.

"Yes you can," Harry urged. "Stab it!"

Ron hesitated then thrust the sword into the locket.

There wasn't any noise of metal against metal.

Instead, the Horcrux spoke

"I have seen your heart and it is mine..."

I stared in absolute horror at the locket, as the hissing voice came from inside the mirror.

"What the fuck?" George cried, leaping back.

"Stab it Ron! Stab it!" Harry yelled. Ron plunged the sword in again.

"I have seen your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and I have also seen your fears. All you desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible..."

"Don't listen to it!" Harry shouted.

George had his arms wrapped tightly around me, and I could tell he was in complete shock at what he was seeing.

"Least loved, by the mother who craved a daughter...Least loves by the girl who prefers your friend...Second best, always, eternally overshadowed...."

"HEY! THAT'S NOT TRUE!" George yelled. "RON! STAB IT! STAB IT!"

George looked sick to his stomach.

From the locket's windows two figures appeared. Harry, and Hermione. Ron yelled, looking horrified.

"Stab it!" I wailed. "Please Ron, stab it!"

"Why return?" The locket hissed from window Harry's mouth. "We were better without you, happier without you! Glad of your absence...we laughed at your stupidity and cowardice, your presumption!"

"Presumption!" The locket Hermione said gleefully. "Who could look at you, who would ever look at you, beside Harry Potter? What have you ever done, compared with the Chosen One? What are you, compared with the Boy Who Lived?"

"STAB IT!" Harry bellowed. Ron was simply holding the sword, staring in horror.

"Please, oh please stab it!" I sobbed. I didn't want to hear the awful locket speak anymore.

"Your mother confessed!" Locket Harry sneered, "that she would have preferred me as a son, would be glad to exchange.."

"Mum would never do that!" George yelled. "You know she loves us all! She took Beth and Harry in because they needed us, our company, because we could ALL be family— PLEASE RON FUCKING STAB IT ALREADY!"

Ron flinched and stabbed it again.

"Who wouldn't prefer him?" Locket Hermione crooned. "What woman would take you, you are nothing, nothing, nothing to him..."

The locket figures of Harry and Hermione kissed.

"STAB IT!" Harry yelled. "FINISH IT OFF!"

With a might stab he finished the Horcrux off. It screeched loudly, then was silent.

Breathing heavily, Ron lowered the sword.

I stared at him, tears in my eyes.

George's grip loosened on me, and I saw he had started crying too.

That voice...

"After you left," Harry said, looking directly at Ron, "she cried for a week, maybe even longer. Only she didn't want me to see. Some nights we wouldn't talk. She was miserable. I love her like a sister. And I reckon she feels the same about me. It's always been like that, I thought you knew."

Ron shivered, and closed his eyes.

"She's liked you for ages," I blurted out. "She's been telling me for so long she liked you. She was just waiting for you to make the first move."

Ron kept his eyes closed.

"You aren't the least loved," George said. "And you know that. Percy already has that position."

Ron let out a soft laugh.

"We all have different talents," George continued. "Yeah Bill is cool and has an earring and a French wife, yeah Charlie works with dragons and has cool scars. But YOU went to the Chamber of Secrets. YOU went to the Ministry of Magic and fought Death Eaters. YOU were there in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower defending the people you loved. How could you ever be least loved? If anything you're most loved. You're the truest Gryffindor out of all of our brothers— except maybe Ginny! Maybe Mum doesn't show it, but how d'you think Fred would react if she showed favoritism? Ron... we all love you."

"I-I just—" he stammered. "I never— I didn't—"

"Ron," Harry said, looking directly at him. "You have been my most loved since I met you. You were my first friend. My best friend. How could you ever think you were the least loved?"

"Your mother is kind," I added, my hands shaking. "She took Harry and I in. But she never replaced you. Oh Ron— you've never been second best. You've fought alongside Harry in so many situations. You're the best of the best."

Ron burst into tears.

"I'm sorry I left," he croaked.

"You made up for it tonight," Harry said. "Getting the sword, finishing off the Horcrux, saving my life."

Ron breathed heavily and stood up, and looked around at us.

"Come on, let's go see Hermione," Harry said.

We had to walk quite far, and only then did we realize it had already begun to be morning.

"It was just night when we were arriving!" George said.

"Nah your watch must be screwed up," I mumbled. "Looks like it's five am already..."

Harry took us to an area and cast a spell so we could see a tent.

"Hermione!" Harry called.

There was a scrambling sound inside the tent. She came out, and when she saw Ron, her mouth dropped open. He half smiled at her.

She launched herself from the bed and began punching him.

"Hermione!" Harry, George, and I yelled. I pulled Hermione away and George and Harry pushed Ron to safety.

"You come back after weeks! Complete arse... I came running after you! I called you! I begged you to come back!" She said, her voice cracking.

"I'm sorry—"

"Oh you're sorry?" Hermione asked, with a shrill laugh. "You come back after weeks and you think it's all going to be all right if you say sorry?"

"I wanted to come back the minute I'd Disapparated, but I walked straight into a gang of Snatchers!" Ron said.

"A gang of what?" Harry asked.

"Snatchers!" Ron said. "They're everywhere. Gangs trying to earn gold by rounding up Muggle borns and blood traitors, there's a reward from the Ministry for everyone captured. I was on my own and looked school age so they got excited thinking I was a Muggle born in hiding. I had to talk fast to get out of it."

"What did you do?" She asked sharply.

"Told em I was Stan Shunpike!" He said. "They weren't the brightest, they even argued about me being him and I had to disarm them and Disapparate and I splinched myself."

"Well we've had a grand time!" Hermione said. She told us about how they'd gone to Godric's Hollow, met a snake disguised as Bathilda Bagshot, and broken Harry's wand.

"That is awful," I muttered.

"How did you even find us tonight?" Hermione cut in.

"This," Ron said, taking out the Deluminator.

"What?" Hermione asked sharply.

"It doesn't just turn the lights on and off," Ron said. "I don't know how it works or why it happened then and not any other time, because I've been wanting to come back since I left. But I was listening to the radio really early a bit after Christmas and I heard...you."

Hermione looked taken aback.

"What did I say?" She asked.

"My name. Ron. And you said something about a wand," he said. She turned quite red and looked away.

"So I took it out," Ron continued. "And it didn't seem different or anything but I was sure I'd heard you. So I clicked it. And the lights went out in my room but another light appeared right outside the window. It was a ball of light, kind of pulsing, and bluish, like that light you get around a Portkey, you know?"

"Yeah," Harry and Hermione said at once.

"I knew this was it," Ron said. "I had started looking for you guys earlier but after another encounter with the Snatchers I got delayed. But once I found out about the Deluminator... I told Beth and George, we packed our rucksacks and headed out. After awhile I discovered they couldn't see the light, so I led the way. After a bit it just... went inside me. And we apparated here to the forest."

"And you arrived here, eventually," Harry said. Ron nodded.

"Then I saw the doe—"

"What doe?" Hermione asked.

We explained what had happened with the Horcrux.

She looked impressed, but still bitter with Ron.

"Well that's that," she said. "I'd like to go see Xenophilius Lovegood tomorrow."

"What for?" I asked as she beckoned us inside and had us put our bags down.

"To ask him about the symbol," Hermione said.

"Symbol? What symbol?" I asked.

She took out a piece of paper and drew a familiar triangle with a line and a circle inside.

"Krum mentioned Xenophilius Lovegood wearing it at the wedding," Harry said. "He told me it was the mark of Grindlewald."

"You are joking right?" George said, looking at the symbol.

"Joking?" Hermione asked. "Joking about what?"

"This thing is in the little book Dumbledore gave you," George said. "Tales of Beetle the Bard. Mum used to read it to us all the time, remember Beth?"

"Yeah," I said, tracing the figure.

"Well what is it?" Hermione shrieked.

"It's the Deathly Hallows," George said.

_______

Of course even after our explanation the following day once we'd gotten some rest and food, Hermione wasn't convinced.

"But the Deathly Hallows can't exist, Ron!" Hermione yelled in exasperation.

"Harry's literally got the cloak!" I protested. "That was our father's Cloak!"

"The Tale of the Three Brothers is a story!" Hermione said. "A story of how humans are scared of death. If surviving were as simple as hiding under the Cloak, we'd have everything we need already!"

"We certainly could do with an unbeatable wand," Harry said.

"There's no such thing, Harry!" Hermione said.

"You said there have been loads of wands," Ron said. "The Deathstick and whatever they were called—"

"All right even if you want to kid yourself the Elder Wand's real, what about the Resurrection Stone?" She asked. "No magic can raise the dead!"

I faltered.

"Wait a minute," I said. I turned to Harry. "Remember the letter we found from Mum to Sirius? Didn't she mention Dumbledore had the Cloak the night they died?"

"Yeah!" Harry said. "This is why! He probably wanted to examine it because he thought it was the third Hallow! Ignotus Peverell is buried in Godric's Hollow... he's my ancestor! I'm descended from the third brother! It all makes sense!"

Hermione hesitated.

"Dumbledore doesn't need the Cloak to become invisible," She said. "Why would he need the Cloak unless..."

Harry gasped loudly and grabbed the Snitch.

"IT MUST BE IN HERE!" He said excitedly. "He left me the ring, it's in the Snitch!"

Then he turned deathly serious and looked at us. I suddenly understood.

"So... You Know Who is after the Elder Wand," I realized. Harry nodded.

"If the Deathly Hallows really existed and Dumbledore knew about them, knew the person who possessed all three of them would be master of Death— why didn't he tell you?" Hermione asked.

"Well when did Dumbledore ever tell us EVERYTHING?" I said in mild annoyance.

"We've got to find out about them ourselves!" Harry said. "It's a Quest! Come on Hermione, why are you so determined not to admit it? Vol—"

"HARRY NO!" Ron and I cried.

"—demort's after the Elder Wand!"

"GEORGE TOLD YOU THE NAME'S TABOO! He was right!" Ron bellowed.

There was a dreadful silence.

Then the Sneakoscope began to spin and light up.

"Crap— we've got company," I said fearfully.

Voices and footsteps drew near.

"Come out with your hands up!" A voice called. "We know you're in there! You've got half a dozen wands pointing at you and we don't care who we curse!"

Hermione quickly cast a Stinging Jinx on Harry to distort his face.

"Harry I am going to murder you," I snarled as we all stepped out with or hands in the air.

George looked at me, and I could see in his eyes he was very afraid.

"Search the tent!" Another voice yelled as we exited.

I gasped in horror when I looked up and saw Fenrir Greyback looking down at me.

"Let's see who we got," he said. "What's your name?"

"Vernon. Vernon Dudley," Harry said immediately.

"Check the list Scabior," Greyback said. "And what about you, Ginger?"

"Barny Weasley," Ron said.

"A Weasley?" Greyback rasped. "So you're related to blood traitors even if you're not a Mudblood."

Greyback came closer to George.

"Arnold Weasley," he said, not bothering to hide it. The hair would give it away.

He turned to Hermione. "Who are you?"

"Penelope Clearwater," Hermione said confidently.

"Blood status?"

"Half blood," she said.

"Easy to check," Scabior said. At last he came to me.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but this here's Elizabeth Potter," he said with a slight sneer.

"It has to be," Greyback said, sniffing me. "Remember what he said, boys..."

Scabior looked at everyone else while the Snatchers surrounded me.

"Him and her are graduates," Scabior said, pointing at George and I. "But the others look Hogwarts age."

"We left," Ron said immediately.

"Have you?" Greyback asked. "And you decided to go camping and use the Dark Lord's name for a laugh?"

"Accident," Ron said quickly.

"You know who liked using the Dark Lord's name? The Order of the Phoenix," Greyback said. "And since we got Elizabeth Potter here... I think you guys are part of the Order.

"T-They're not," George said immediately. "O-Only I am. B-Beth isn't."

"No, I am too," I said, not wanting him to throw himself entirely under the bus. "But the others are too young."

Greyback licked his lips, and Scabior checked the list.

"There's no Vernon Dudley on here Greyback," Scabior said.

"Interesting. What House are you in?" Greyback asked, looking at Harry.

"Slytherin," Harry said automatically.

"Funny how they all think we want to hear that," Scabior said. "But no one can tell us where the common room is."

"It's in the dungeons," Harry said immediately. "You enter through the wall. Password is Pureblood. Yoy can see the lake from there, all the light is green."

"Looks like we have caught some Slytherins," Greyback said.

"Look at this Greyback!" A voice called from inside the tent. The man walked out with the sword of Gryffindor.

Shit.

"And a copy of the Prophet," the man said.

Greyback took the newspaper from him.

"Hermione Granger," he read. "The Mudblood who is known to be traveling with Harry Potter."

He looked at Hermione and smiled cruelly. Then he turned to me.

"So this ugly must be your brother, huh?" He hissed, looking at the disfigured face of Harry.

We were done for.

"Let's take them to Malfoy Manor!" Scabior said.

The Snatchers grabbed the trio and threw them where they were holding other prisoners. Then Scabior grabbed me and flipped me around.

"GET OFF HER!" George snarled, leaping at Scabior.

Greyback swatted him into another Snatcher's arms and they tied him up, while Scabior put a very tight rope around my wrists.

"You sure we can't keep her?" Scabior hissed to Greyback.

"No, you know that," Greyback hissed.

Next thing I knew, we were Disapparated straight into Malfoy Manor.

"We've got Potter!" Greyback announced.

There were footsteps upstairs, and then Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy quickly descended the staircase.

Lucius came close and observed us.

"This one is definitely Elizabeth Potter," he said, glaring at me. "But the boy... I can't tell."

"M-My son Draco is home," Narcissa said. "He will know if that is Harry Potter."

"Draco!" Lucius Malfoy called.

There was another sound, and Draco descended the staircase as well.

He paled when he saw me, and looked around nervously.

I prayed he would help us in return for what I did for him.

"Well Draco?" Lucius asked. "Is it Harry Potter?"

Draco walked forward to look at Harry. He shot me a look and hesitated.

"I can't be sure," he said.

"Look again, Draco," Lucius said, pushing his son towards Harry.

"I-I don't know—"

"Draco, if we are the ones who hand Potter over to the Dark Lord, everything will be forgiven—"

"Now, we won't be forgetting who actually caught him, I hope, Mr Malfoy?" Greyback snapped.

"Of course not!" Lucius said, stepping closer to Harry and grabbing his face. "There's something here, it could be a scar stretched tight. Draco— look properly!"

"I can't tell, father!" Draco said. "I just don't know!"

"We had better be certain, Lucius," Narcissa said, her voice quivering. "Completely sure that it is Potter, before we summon the Dark Lord. If we are mistaken... if we call the Dark Lord here for nothing... remember he did to Rowle and Dolohov?"

Lucius nodded slowly.

Narcissa gulped and took the wands they'd taken from us.

"They say this is his but it doesn't resemble Ollivander's description," she said. "If we are mistaken, if we call the Dark Lord here for nothing..."

"What about the Mudblood then?" Greyback asked.

"Wait," Narcissa said. "Yes yes, she was in Madam Malkin's with Potter! I saw her picture in the Prophet! Look Draco, isn't it the Granger girl?"

"She could be," He said. "But I'm not certain."

"But then that's the Weasley boy!" Lucius said. "Both— the older one dating his sister and the young one. It's them, Potter's friends, Draco— look at them. Aren't they Arthur Weasley's sons?"

"They could be," Draco murmured. "But Ron Weasley's at home with spattergroit, and I heard George Weasley and his brother went to lay low in America."

"America?" Lucius scoffed. "So what? You're telling me that these aren't Potter's friends?"

"No," Draco said firmly.

Lucius turned to me.

"But this— this is Elizabeth Potter, isn't it?" He snarled.

Draco looked at me straight in the eyes.

"Her hair is l-longer," he said. "There's a girl that's a l-lookalike to her at s-school... she's in Ravenclaw."

Greyback roared with laughter.

"Don't play with us boy!" He said. "We all know what Elizabeth Potter looks like and this is it."

Draco looked at me again and shook his head.

"What's happened, Cissy?" I heard a voice call from upstairs.

Bellatrix Lestrange appeared from the top of the staircase. She rushed down.

"This is the Mudblood girl! This is Granger!" She said.

"Yes yes it's Granger!" Lucius said. "And beside her, we think, Potter! Potter and his friends caught at last!"

Bellatrix turned to me and licked her lips. "And little Elizabeth Potter... HAND HER HERE."

The Snatcher holding me threw me forward.

Bellatrix gripped me by the neck and lifted my shirt, where the nasty scar from her stabbing me resided on my stomach.

"Aw," she said, maliciously caressing it. "What's it like, knowing you can't ever make more little blood traitors?"

I tensed, and she threw me back.

"This should be Potter but it does not look like him," she said, staring at Harry. "Ah... The Dark Lord must be informed."

"I was about to call him," Lucius said, grabbing Bellatrix's wrist as she moved to press her Dark Mark. "I shall summon him, Bella. Potter has been brought to my house, and it is therefore upon my authority—"

"Your authority!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You lost your authority when you lost your wand, Lucius! How dare you— take your hands off me!"

"This is nothing to do with you, you did not capture the boy—"

"Begging your pardon, Mr Malfoy," Greyback sneered, "but it's us that caught Potter and it's us that'll be claiming the gold."

"Gold!" Bellatrix said. "Take your gold, filthy scavenger, what do I want with gold? I only seek the honor of his— of—"

Suddenly she fixated her eyes on something one of the Snatchers was holding.

"STOP!" She cried. "Do not touch your mark, Lucius, or we shall all perish if the Dark Lord comes now!"

Lucius stopped dead in his tracks, and looked at Bellatrix.

"What is that?" Bellatrix asked one of the Snatchers slowly, pointing towards the sword of Godric Gryffindor.

"Sword," he said.

"Give it to me," she demanded.

"It's not yours, missus, it's mine, I reckon I found it—"

Bellatrix yelled loudly and shot a jet of red light at the Snatcher, stunning him. One of the other Snatchers drew his wand, Bellatrix just Stunned the whole lot of Snatchers except Greyback.

"Where did you get this sword?" She asked, taking Greyback's wand.

"How dare you?" He sneered. "Release me, woman!"

"Where did you find this sword?" She asked angrily. "Snape sent it to my vault in Gringotts!"

"It was in their tent!" Greyback snapped. "Release me, I say!"

Bellatrix waved her wand, which allowed Greyback to stand again.

"Draco, move this scum outside," Bellatrix snapped, motioning to the Snatchers. "If you haven't got the guts to finish them, then leave them in the courtyard for me."

"Don't speak to him like that!" Narcissa cried.

"Be quiet, Cissy!" Bellatrix hissed. "This is graver than you can possibly imagine... we have a very serious problem!"

She pursed her lips. "If it is indeed Potter and his sister... they must not be harmed. The Dark Lord wishes to dispose of them himself."

She turned to the Snatchers.

"Take the prisoners to the cellar!" She demanded.

"This is my house, Bella—"

"You have no idea the danger we're in!" Bellatrix shrieked. Narcissa hesitated.

"Take them to the cellar," Narcissa said. Bellatrix held her hand up.

"Wait," she said. "All except for the Mudblood."

"NO!" I screamed. "NO—"

The Snatchers began to drag Harry, Ron, and George down into the cellar.

I lunged forward to Bellatrix just as she took out her wand.

"Idiot girl!" Bellatrix snarled, immobilizing me in midair and slapping me. "Fine! Bind her and let her stay. She can watch while we torture her..."

"LET HER GO! PLEASE!" I screamed. "TAKE ME INSTEAD!"

"Oh I would, if the Dark Lord didn't want you unharmed," Bellatrix hissed.

Someone grabbed me from behind and wrapped a tight rope around me. I growled and tried kicking them, but that resulted in getting punched in the face.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Greyback said in a dangerous voice.

Meanwhile, Bellatrix had begun to torture Hermione.

"I'm going to ask you again," she said dangerously. "Where did you get this sword? WHERE?"

"We found it!" Hermione cried. "We found it, PLEASE!"

She screamed loudly as Bellatrix began to trace a line across her neck with the knife. I struggled against Greyback, who was laughing.

"You're lying, filthy Mudblood, and I know it!" Bellatrix screamed. "You've been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell me the truth, the truth!"

Hermione shook her head wildly, and I fought madly against Greyback as Hermione let or another high pitched scream, Bellatrix digging the knife a little deeper.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" I screamed, gagging as Greyback's suddenly wrapped his hand tightly around my neck. He hadn't tied the rope... I could break free.

I discreetly tucked my arm between the binds.

"What else did you take? What else have you got? Tell me the truth or I swear, I shall run you through with this knife!" Bellatrix roared.

"SHE'S TOLD YOU ALREADY!" I croaked. "Leave her— ALONE!"

Greyback laughed, and his grip loosened slightly.

I seized the opportunity and yanked at the rope. It clattered out of his hand and I whirled around, punching him and diving to the side to grab my wand off the floor.

Greyback unfortunately was fast, and slammed me against the ground right as my hand closed around my wand.

I felt another punch and croaked, spitting blood out.

"Be careful or I'll have to make your throat my dinner," Greyback snarled, licking his lips as he threw my wand aside and pinned me down.

"What is it, wittle Beth?" Bellatrix hissed, standing over a barely conscious Hermione. "Don't like seeing your Mudblood friend get what she deserves?"

"We didn't take anything from anywhere," I spat as Greyback wrapped his filthy hand around my throat. "We don't even know how the sword ended up in that pond—"

Bellatrix faltered a bit.

"Pond?" She said. Then she regained her composure. "Oh. You think you can trick me. You want me to let your little friends go?"

"I swear—"

"CRUCIO!"

I screamed, and Greyback laughed.

"I wish I could just remove your heart now," Bellatrix snarled, holding her knife firmly. "Then Greyback could eat it. But no, the Dark Lord wants to keep you— to what? Serve as bait? I think you're useless."

She turned back to Hermione, and licking her lips, kneeled back over her.

"How did you get into my vault?" Bellatrix screamed in Hermione's face. "Did that dirty little goblin in the cellar help you?"

"We only just met him tonight— PLEASE!"

Bellatrix roared and kept slicing across Hermione's neck. I struggled against Greyback, who simply tightened his grip.

If I didn't get out, I'd die.

"CRUCIO!"

Hermione's screams echoed off the walls, and I felt more tears squeeze out. I had to get to out, I had to...

Draco brought the goblin up from the cellar. I didn't know what Bellatrix wanted to hear— I didn't know why she cared so much about the sword of Gryffindor.

"Well?" She snapped at the goblin. I realized he had been one of the prisoners that came in with us.

"It's a fake," he said.

"Are you sure? Quite sure?" Bellatrix panted.

"Yes," the goblin confirmed.

She seemed relieved. I wasn't sure if the goblin had lied or not, but if she felt safe with the sword it meant she would likely call the Dark Lord.

"Let us call the Dark Lord now," she said, turning to me. "I will make him see reason. You are useless. Perhaps I will get to dispose of you myself once I tell him what you've dared to do."

Then she looked at Greyback and grinned maliciously.

"I think we can dispose of the Mudblood now, Greyback," she said. "Take her if you want."

"No!" I croaked as Greyback suddenly tightened his grip to an unbearable amount.

"NOOOOOO!"

George, Ron and Harry burst into the drawing room— Harry's face back to normal.

"Expelliarmus!" Ron cried, disarming Bellatrix. George caught her wand in his hand and Stunned Lucius Malfoy, who collapsed onto the hearth.

Draco and Narcissa fired curses, and George barely managed to keep Harry from getting hit as he leapt forward, slashing his wand through the air to try and disarm Draco.

Bellatrix ran over and grabbed Hermione, holding her up and pressing the knife to her throat.

"Drop your wands or we'll see just how filthy her blood is!" She snarled. "Draco— pick up their wands! The Dark Lord is coming, Harry Potter! Your death approaches!"

There was an enormous creaking sound and I looked up, seeing the crystal chandelier was about to fall down.

Bellatrix threw Hermione aside and Ron ran forward to catch her and drag her out of the way.

Greyback also decided he would much rather save himself. George dove forward and threw his body over mine just as the chandelier crashed on the floor and exploded chains and crystals everywhere.

"George," I wheezed, gasping for air.

He sat up and I saw shards of glass stuck in his hair and lodged into his arms.

"I'm good," he said, quickly getting up and dragging me out of the way.

Narcissa, Draco, and Bellatrix were frozen in shock.

There was a crack, and Dobby stood beside George and I.

"Dobby!" Narcissa screamed. "You! You dropped the chandelier!"

"You must not hurt Harry Potter or Elizabeth Potter!" Dobby squeaked.

"Kill him, Cissy!" Bellatrix snarled.

Dobby flicked his wrist, disarming Narcissa in one swift move.

"You dirty little monkey!" Bellatrix howled. "How dare you take a witch's wand? How dare you defy your masters?"

"Dobby has no master!" He squealed. "Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Elizabeth Potter, Harry Potter, and their friends!"

"Ron, GO!" Harry cried, grabbing one of the wands that had ended up in the chandelier wreckage. He tossed it to him, and Ron fired one last spell as he ran to join us, grabbing onto Harry's arm and holding Hermione tightly to him. George sprinted to meet them and grasped Harry's arm.

With a crack, Dobby disappeared, and just as Ron spun on the spot to Disapparate us all, Bellatrix threw the knife.

When we landed, I thought for a minute it missed us completely.

That was until George collapsed, his eyes wide open, and a knife lodged in his side.


	84. Chapter 84

"GEORGE! GEORGE!"

I screamed and dropped to my knees as he croaked, spitting out blood.

"NO!" Ron yelled, holding an unconscious Hermione in his arms. "No—"

"BILL!" Harry bellowed. "FLEUR! SOMEBODY!"

I wrapped my arms around George and tried to hoist him up.

"Beth," he wheezed, looking at me and reaching his arms up to caress my face. "I'm sorry... I just... I didn't want it to hit you..."

"You should have let it," I hissed. "Why—"

"Because," he said, wincing. "I love you, Beth..."

"You are not dying," I said, my voice trembling. "You aren't. You're not allowed to."

He laughed, then coughed, and blood splattered out onto my shirt.

Harry rushed over and lifted George's legs just as we heard the cottage doors fly open.

"GEORGE!"

It was Bill.

"Beth," George mumbled as Bill reached us, and waved his wand to keep George steady. "I love you..."

"You do not get to say your goodbyes yet," I hissed as Bill willed George's body to float full speed to the cottage.

Ron threw Hermione over his shoulder.

I felt bad for thinking it, but in that moment I could care less about Hermione. Ron and Harry had her.

So I sprinted into the cottage.

When I got in, George was sprawled on the table, and Bill and Fleur were wildly bringing out supplies.

"Beth," George said, waving his arm out to me.

"Don't move, let them work," I said, tears welled up in my eyes as I sat beside him.

"It's going to hurt a lot George," Bill said. "We have to do this by hand. But I've treated wounds like this before— we will do our best."

George laughed.

"Stop doing that," I said, grasping his hand tightly. "You'll only hurt yourself more."

"I love you," George said, licking the dried blood off his lips.

"Don't do that either," I said, grabbing a cloth and wiping his mouth.

"Don't tell you I love you?" He asked.

"No, don't lick the blood off," I said. "You're not a vampire. You'll choke."

He giggled and squeezed my hand.

"I love you," he repeated. "See? No licking."

"George," I said, squeezing my eyes shut.

"Marry me."

I looked up. "W-What?"

"Marry me," he said, wincing in pain as Bill pulled the knife out.

"George I—"

"I wanted to do a b-big proposal," he said, hissing slightly. "B-But I think— I'd like to know right now— if you would— m-marry me."

"Of course George," I said, biting my lip. "But why now—?"

"I could die, Beth," he whispered, his eyes now reflecting the fear he felt. "And I love you. I love you so much that I need to know if you would marry me. I want to die knowing you would—"

I touched his face softly. "You're g-going to be fine. W-We'll get m-married... and adopt... three kids. L-Like you w-wanted... t-two b-boys and a g-girl... and we'll have a big house b-by the s-sea... with an enormous backyard... a treehouse for the k-kids... and maybe... t-three pets of any kind..."

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, smiling.

"I'd like that," he whispered.

"Then you can't die," I said sharply, forcing myself not to cry anymore. "You can't—"

Bill cut me off. "Hey George buddy... Fleur and I are going to give you a potion to put you to sleep while we fix you, okay?"

George nodded, then looked at me. "I love you, Elizabeth Lily Potter... and I want you to marry me..."

"I will," I said. "I will..."

He smiled again, and Fleur lifted his head to pour the potion in.

"You do know what you're doing?" I said in a shaky voice to Bill once George was unconscious.

"Yes," he said. "Jeez... that proposal was almost better than the one he had planned for the end of my wedding party at the bouquet toss..."

"Not funny," I said, tears streaming down my face.

"'E will be okay," Fleur said, coming over to gently lead me away. "I will make sure."

"Thank you," I whispered.

It was a few hours before Bill and Fleur came to fetch me from where I'd curled up on the living room couch to tell me that George was fine.

"You're sure?" I said softly.

"Yes," Bill said. "We get medical training at Gringotts, Beth. Trust me. He was just lucky it only slightly nicked his colon. His liver and gall bladder were completely unscathed... he got very, very lucky."

"Good," I said, finally feeling like I could breathe again. "Can I see him?"

"Yeah, we took him upstairs to your room," Bill said.

"Thank you," I breathed before running upstairs.

I opened the door and saw George laying on the bed, breathing steadily.

I very carefully went over to him and climbed onto my side, laying down and stroking his hair.

"Hmm," he said.

"Hi," I said, touching his cheek. "You're alive. We can get married now."

A smile appeared on his face, and his eyes remained closed.

"Are you wearing a wedding dress?" He said. "I need to know if I can open my eyes or not."

"Not yet, silly," I giggled. "I still have to go get fitted. I may be the same height as Fleur but I definitely do not fit into her dress."

"Oh yeah, your chest is bigger," George said, making a big show of only opening one eye. Then he opened the other. He winked and then smirked.

"Well, from what I can see, you're back to normal," I said, leaning down to kiss his cheek. "I love you."

"Ah, she finally says it back!" He said, weakly pumping a fist in the air.

"I didn't say it back because you were using it as a goodbye," I said.

He laughed. "You still remember how I told you it's never goodbye, it's I'll see you later..."

"And it's later," I said. "I love you. And I'll marry you."

"That was the shittiest proposal in the history of proposals and for that I sincerely apologize..."

"It doesn't matter what it was like—"

"I didn't even give you a ring..."

"I don't need a ring," I said. "As long as we know we're getting married... it's all that matters."

George grinned. "I'm thinking... June of next year."

"June sounds nice," I said. "I'll be 20 and you'll be 21... we'll have time to plan..."

"And time for you to finish your internship year, since that'll get you on your feet," he said.

I smiled. "June 1999, then? Is that what we'll be putting on the invitations?"

"Pssh, who needs invitations? Just tell anyone and everyone that there will be firewhiskey galore and they won't forget the date..."

I laughed, and leaned down to kiss him.

"Do I taste like blood?" George mumbled against his lips.

"No, they cleaned your mouth well. Tastes more like soap than anything else."

"Yuck."

________

After about two weeks of me monitoring George and changing his bandages and giving him nasty medicines he hated, he was able to walk again.

"Wonderful," George said as he dressed himself for the first time since his injury. "Glad to see tying my shoes is something I can do again."

"But remember, if it hurts at all, you need to tell me so I can do it," I said.

"As much as I love seeing you kneeled before me—"

"George!"

"—I need to learn how to do it again myself. And plus, I need to be up and ready for our pre-wedding game nights—"

"Oh you did NOT just call it that—"

"—because I can't have you reconsidering whether you want to marry me or not."

I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore how my cheeks burned.

"Nothing is going to change the fact that I want to marry you, you dummy," I said.

"What if I blew up all of Diagon Alley or something? Then what?"

"Well obviously I'm driving the getaway car, aren't I?"

George smirked. "See? This is exactly why I want to marry you."

"So it can't be because I'm a good cook—"

"Why didn't I propose sooner?"

"You tell me."

He walked over to me and took my arm.

"You're amazing," he said nonchalantly as we headed downstairs. "I hope you know that."

I blushed, and he leaned down to kiss my cheek.

"Hey, George!" Ron said, clapping as we came downstairs.

"Guess who dressed themselves?" I announced.

"Me," George said happily. "Do I get a gold star? Or maybe a trip to the treasure chest?"

"A trip to Gringotts," Harry said.

"What?" George and I asked in unison.

"What's in Gringotts?" I asked.

"Hermione, Ron, and I have been talking," Harry said. "And we had a conversation with Griphook. We're planning to break into Gringotts to get another Horcrux."

"When?" I said, tensing slightly.

"Soon," Hermione said. "You and George don't have to come, we'd all rather you stayed here and recovered but I know I can't stop you from coming with us."

George looked at me.

"Well I'm fine," he said. "We're definitely coming. Just get us up to date and—"

There was a loud bang on the front door.

We all jumped, and instinctively raised our wands.

"Who is it?" Bill called.

"It is I, Remus John Lupin!" Came a familiar voice. "I am a werewolf, godfather to Elizabeth Potter, husband to Nymphadora Tonks, and you, the Secret Keeper of Shell Cottage, told me the address and bade me come in an emergency!"

"Dramatic much?" George whispered as Bill rushed forward and threw open the door.

My goddather fell over the threshold and looked around, and his eyes fixated on me.

"It's a boy!" He cried. "We've named him Ted, after Dora's father!"

"Tonks had the baby?" I cried.

"Yes! Yes, she's had the baby," my godfather said.

There were cries of delight, and he came to George and I and put a hand on each of our shoulders.

"You'll be the godparents?" He asked.

"U-Us?" George spluttered.

"Yes— both of you! Dora quite agrees, no one better!" He said, pulling us into a tight hug. "I want Teddy to have two godparents and you— you're perfect for it."

"Gladly," I said, my lip trembling. "Oh how incredible... do you have a picture?"

"Not yet, but I'll bring one next time!" He said. Then he suddenly smacked his forehead. "And another thing, I'd forgotten— Batavia's had her baby!"

"What?" I cried. "How do you know—?"

"Katie told me when she came to deliver Teddy," my godfather said. "Bixby Oliver Wood."

"That's so wonderful!" I cried, hugging my godfather again.

"Yes! I know!" He said happily. "I do hope she and Oliver come back so Bixby and Teddy can grow up together... well I can't stay long."

"Stay for a toast!" Bill insisted, pouring wine in several goblets.

My godfather obliged. "To Teddy Remus Lupin, and to Bixby Oliver Wood. Two great wizards in the making!"

We drank to them, and George happily put his arm around me.

I didn't recall ever feeling this happy.

"'Oo does 'e look like?" Fleur asked excitedly.

"I think he looks like Dora, but she thinks he is like me," he said. "Not much hair. It looked black when he was born, but I swear it's turned ginger in the hour since. Probably be blond by the time I get back. Andromeda says Tonks's hair started changing color the day she was born."

He drained his goblet, looking giddy. "Oh go on then, just one more."

Bill refilled his goblet and I smiled as my godfather drank it happily.

"I really must get back," he said, standing up. "Goodbye, I'll try and bring some pictures in a few days' time— they'll all be so glad to know that I've seen you..."

He pulled George and I into a tight hug.

"Thank you again, for accepting," my godfather said. "I know you'll be the best godparents."

"And you'll be the best dad," I said, making my godfather smile before waving and heading out the door.

I turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who scooted closer when Bill and Fleur left the room.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I have a sort of plan," Hermione said. "But I'm not sure."

"Well?"

"I was thinking I could turn into Bellatrix and George and Ron could be my bodyguards," Hermione said. "We'd alter their faces completely. Then you and Harry would be under the Cloak with Griphook, ready to fire any spells.

"Sounds good," I said, wringing my hands. "You're all up for it?"

"Let's do it," George agreed.

_________

"Madam Lestrange," Tom the barman murmured as we passed into the Leaky Cauldron.

"Good morning," Hermione said, trembling slightly.

Needless to say, he was confused as fuck.

"Way too nice!" I hissed.

"Sorry!" She mumbled.

Behind her were Ron and George, dressed as guards, their hair now dark brown and their eyes a strange amber. I'd altered their faces so they looked more Russian.

I was under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry beside me with Griphook on his shoulders.

Hermione rapped on the stones on the wall to enter into Diagon Alley. There were hardly any people there, and several "DESIRABLE NUMBER blank" signs hung across the walls.

Most of the faces were Harry's and mine.

A beggar with bloody bandages came toward Hermione, and I tensed.

"My children... my children..." he moaned. "Where are my children? What has he done to them? You know, you know!"

Hermione was too kind.

"I-I don't— I'm sorry," she squeaked, scurrying away as Ron and George convincingly raised their wands to urge him away.

We continued to walk down Diagon Alley.

Hermione of course, was still not acting like a convincing Bellatrix.

"Madam Lestrange!"

Hermione turned slowly.

"Yes?" She asked.

"That's Travers," I hissed, recalling the Death Eater.

"Just going to say hello," he said. "I'm er.. I'm surprised to see you out and about, Bellatrix."

"Why is that?" Hermione asked a bit nervously.

"I heard that the inhabitants of Malfoy Manor were confined to the house after the escape," he said.

"The Dark Lord forgives those who have served him most faithfully in the past," Hermione said. "Perhaps your credit is not as good with him as mine is, Travers."

Good. A gold star for Hermione.

"Well Bellatrix," Travers said, "perhaps your credit is good but I did hear that you made a grave mistake."

"A mistake? Me?" Hermione scoffed, looking mildly confused.

"Yes," Travers said. "I heard you used the curse on the Potter girl. The Dark Lord told you to leave her unscathed to hold her as bait. It'd hurt the Order more to have her go from completely healthy to a complete bloody mess."

"Perhaps it was better I hurt her, so they could keep her close," Hermione said. "Then when we took her, it'd hurt them more, and they'd be more inclined to agreeing with us."

Travers seemed convinced.

"Alright," Travers said. "Who— who's wand are you using at the moment? I heard your own was—"

"I have my own wand," Hermione said. "Mine is safe here in my hands."

"Huh," he said. "So er— who are your friends here? I don't recognize them."

"Dragomir and Brackomir Despard," Hermione said hastily. "Both speak very little English, but are in sympathy with the Dark Lord's aims. They've traveled here from Transylvania to see our new regime."

"Indeed?" Travers asked. "How do you do, Dragomir? Brackomir?"

"'Ow you?" Ron asked in a gruff voice, shaking his hand.

George huffed and shook Travers's hand.

"So er, what brings you to Diagon Alley this early?" Travers asked Hermione.

"I need to pay Gringotts a visit," She said.

"Alas, I also," Travers said. "Gold, filthy gold! We cannot live without it, yet I confess I deplore the necessity of consorting with our long fingered friends."

Hermione nodded and we continued to walk.

We passed through security without questions, which can definitely be attributed to my Confundus Charm, which I cast discreetly from under the Cloak.

Hermione walked up to the front desk, and crossed her arms.

"I wish to enter my vault," She said.

"You have identifications?" The goblin up front asked.

"What do I need that for?" Hermione asked, looking startled.

I quickly waved my wand, and the goblin's eyes became glassy.

"Yes, right this way," he mumbled.

He led us down to where there were carts to head to the deepest vaults.

Luckily this led to us being able to comfortably spread out in the cart. I sat next to George, who winked.

"Am I still hot?" He asked.

"Liked you better as a redhead," I said thoughtfully.

He just kissed my cheek in response.

I looked to the side of the cart, and suddenly tensed.

"Wait a minute," I mumbled, seeing that the path was familiar. "Wait— we need to stop the cart before we reach the waterfall!"

"What?" Harry asked.

"The waterfall!" I said, pointing to a stream of water falling from a large pipe above us. "It's turned on— that means they know we're here!"

George and I frantically took out our wands, trying to cast any spell that might stop the cart, but it was no use. We sailed through the water and were thrown out of the cart onto the hard floor.

I looked up and saw Hermione now looked like herself.

"We need to hurry!" I screamed. "They'll be onto us soon!"

We heard voices from where we'd entered the underground.

"Protego!" George cried, urging us to run down the nearest passageway.

"Lead the way, Griphook!" Harry cried as the goblin hobbled forward.

"How are we going to get out again?" Ron cried as we ran into the darkness.

"Let's worry about that when we have to!" George said.

I cursed internally. Had we not planned enough?

"Griphook, how much farther?" Harry shouted.

"Not far, Harry Potter, not far..." Griphook said.

We ran until we turned down the last corridor and came face to face with a gigantic, but very old dragon. Its wings were spiked and it's scales were patterned in arrowheads.

The dragon seemed to have heard us, because it turned to us and spat a jet of fire that we narrowly avoided.

"It's partially blind!" Griphook panted. "But even more savage for that. However we have the means to control it— give me the Clankers!"

Ron handed them to Griphook, who began to shake them furiously. The dragon roared and retreated, seemingly expecting pain.

"Make Bogrod press his palm on the door!" Griphook said.

George grabbed the goblin and picked him up, slamming his palm onto the door of the Lestrange vault.

The instant the door opened, we ran inside, and were engulfed in darkness as the door disappeared.

"Lumos!" Hermione cried. "Griphook— how are we going to get out?"

"Bogrod will be able to release us!" He said. "Hurry, we have little time!"

I searched madly for the cup, the cup of Hufflepuff that Harry had described. One of Voldemort's Horcruxes— one of the last few left for us to destroy.

"I think this is it!" Hermione cried. "Could it be— AAH!"

She screamed in pain, and I barely managed to catch the cup in the air with a spell.

"That's not it!" I said. "This doesn't have the Hufflepuff crest anywhere!"

I looked down and saw replicas of the cup Hermione had touched were sprouting all across the room.

"Damn it!" George said, looking at the replicas with wide eyes. "They've added Germinio and Flagrante Curses! Everything we touch will burn and multiply into worthless copies!"

"We can get crushed by the gold!" I yelled. "Hurry!"

We looked around, but the amount of cups now on the floor was preventing us from getting very far.

I crawled over the cups, and looked up. At the back of the room, at the top of a tower of gold, I saw it.

"It's there!" I cried. "Accip cup!"

It did not budge.

"Accio!" George yelled. "ACCIO— fucking hell!"

"Of fucking course they made it unable to be summoned," I snarled. "Don't even get me started on the stupid multiplying curses..."

"Well," George mumbled, furrowing his eyebrows. "Maybe... maybe to prevent it multiplying... we can poke the sword through the handle when we get it!"

"But the question is HOW we'll get it," I said.

A lightbulb seemed to turn on in George's head.

"Lift me!" He said. "Just float me over— Harry hand me the sword!"

Harry did, and I flicked my wand.

George rose gracefully, and stretched the sword out in front of him.

As steadily and quickly as I possibly could I moved George through the air.

He managed to poke the sword through the handle.

"I'm going to bring you back quickly!" I cried, flicking my wand to shoot him back towards us.

As soon as he was right beside me, I lowered him down.

He proudly thrust the sword out to show me the cup on the sword.

"Gold star," I said happily.

"Yeah," he said. "And maybe I can have a kiss too."

I smirked and leaned in.

Suddenly more cups from the one Hermione touched burst from the ground, hitting me and burning me.

I screamed, and as George moved to shield me, one cup slammed forward and hit him on the back of his knee, making him fall.

The sword and the cup flew out of his hand, and he growled in frustration.

Griphook lunged for the sword and laughed, grabbing it and sprinting out of the room— the door now wide open.

"LITTLE RAT!" George roared as he snatched the cup up.

"Let's go!" I screamed, yanking George up.

We sprinted out, and then realized how close the other goblins were.

"Thieves, thieves!" The other goblins yelled, about to catch up to us.

"THE DRAGON!" George yelled. "THE DRAGON— COME ON!"

"Are you MAD?" Ron asked, dragging Hermione with him.

"NO— THIS IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN GET OUT!" He yelled.

He grabbed my arm and ran up to the dragon.

Luckily it was so distracted that when he urged me to climb up its back, it didn't spew fire at us.

"Hurry— come on!" George said, grabbing Hermione from Ron and practically tossing her up behind me.

Harry and Ron seemed to get the memo, and quickly climbed up.

The goblins were too close.

Rather than let George take time to climb, I flicked my wand and he shot up, landing in front of me.

"The chains!" He yelled as he sat properly.

I flicked my wand again, breaking the chains holding the dragon down, then pointed my wand at the ceiling so that it shattered.

George barely managed to cast a shield to protect us and the dragon from the falling pieces of stone.

He tugged at the dragon's neck so it'd look up.

The dragon, clearly pleased at a chance to escape, roared and ascended quickly, everyone behind me screaming and holding onto me as I leaned forward to wrap my arms around George. The goblins below growled in fury.

We broke out into open air and I screamed in joy.

"We made it!" I cried. "We made it— we really made it!"

I turned back and saw Hermione had fainted.

"Never been much for heights," Ron said. "She'll be okay."

Even he looked a little queasy. "This is cool, though..."

"Are you kidding me?" I cried. "This is AWESOME! We're flying on top of a dragon! And we're the first to successfully break in and out of Gringotts!"

I leaned onto George's shoulder.

"You were amazing," I said, kissing his cheek. "And where did you learn to tame a dragon?"

"You think Charlie was the only one interested in creatures?" He asked with a smirk, leaning back against me.

"Maybe we can arrive to our wedding on a dragon," I suggested.

"Nah, I think Charlie might faint, and then we'd need to pause the wedding..."

_______

After what seemed like hours of flying and enduring Hermione's sobs and Ron's cursing, the dragon finally decided to fly low— descending over the water gracefully.

"Jump off when it gets near the ground!" George said. "She's slowing down... we can make it."

We waited until the dragon flew over land, and then we jumped.

Luckily, George waved his wand to keep us all from busting our heads open on the rocks.

"That was so cool," I sighed once we'd all gotten back to our feet.

"Another golden star?" George asked hopefully.

I grabbed his face and kissed him.

Hermione cleared her throat and we broke apart.

"Well I say we set up camp for tonight," she said.

We didn't need to be told twice. George and I walked all the way around the little clearing, casting all the spells we knew that could provide us the necessary protection. Hermione, Harry, and Ron were setting up a tent.

"You know," George said, snaking his arm around my waist. "We could get married in a forest."

"Ooh!" I said. "How about the Forbidden Forest?"

"Brilliant," he said. "We can invite Hagrid's Acromantulas and the centaurs..."

"Can you imagine them being the groomsmen?" I giggled.

"They'd probably run me through with an arrow," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Scratch that idea."

We headed back to where the tent was, and sat down around a fire Ron started.

"Well on the upside, we got the Horcrux," Ron said once I'd made us food from fish George caught. "On the downside... no sword. That double crossing little scumbag..."

"That's what we get for messing with goblins," Hermione said miserably.

"Bill did tell you to be careful," George said.

"We wanted to have a little faith," Hermione hissed.

George held his hands up in surrender.

"So," I said, taking another bite. "You mentioned the reason the sword could destroy Horcruxes was because it was impregnated with basilisk venom, right? So... if we found something as deadly as that venom, could it work?"

"Perhaps," Hermione said. "But I've never heard of anything."

"I have," George said. "But it's illegal in about twenty countries and you need to know the right people to get it."

"We don't have that type of connections," I mumbled.

George sighed. "I hope that dragon will be okay."

I smiled at his thoughtfulness, but Ron raised an eyebrow.

"It's us we need to worry about," he said.

Hermione looked scared. "What do you mean?"

"Well I don't know how to break this to you," he said. "But I think they might have noticed that we broke into Gringotts."

We all burst out laughing.

"I wonder if they'll actually tell You Know Who that the cup is gone," I said, once I'd stopped wheezing and giggling.

"You know they're big babies," George added. "I mean... they'll be too scared. Maybe they'll cover it up..."

Harry suddenly yelled, and clutched his scar.

"Harry!" I cried. "Harry— what's wrong?"

He hissed and held his head in his hands, gritting his teeth and groaning.

Then his eyes flew open, and he looked at us, alarmed.

"He knows," he croaked. "He knows and he's going to check wheee the others are, and the last one is at Hogwarts. I KNEW it."

"What?" I cried. "But how did you— what did you see?"

"I saw him finding out about the cup," Harry said. "I was in his head... he's seriously angry, and scared too, he can't understand how we knew, and now he's going to check the others are safe... the ring first. He thinks that Hogwarts one is safest because Snape is there, because it'll be so hard not to be seen getting in.. I think he'll check that one last, but he could still be there within hours."

"Did you see where in Hogwarts it is?" Ron asked, getting to his feet.

"No, he was concentrating on warning Snape, he didn't think about exactly where it is—"

He stood up abruptly and grabbed the Invisibility Cloak.

"Harry!" I cried. "Slow down— we need a plan! We can't just go—"

"We need to get going," Harry said. "Can you imagine what he's going to do when he realizes the ring and the locket are gone? What if he moves the Hogwarts Horcrux, decides it isn't safe enough?"

George bit his lip.

"Okay," he said, holding his hands up. "If we Apparate to Hogsmeade... I can sneak us in through Honeydukes without the owner finding us... the old bloke sleeps like a rock, and it's late, and I have access to the backdoor..."

"That works," I said. "Get under the Cloak."

"We don't fit anymore," Hermione whimpered.

"No one will see our feet, it's dark," Harry said.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked. She looked at George. "Are you SURE?"

"Listen Hermione," George said, "the only thing I've ever been more sure about is asking Beth to marry me. Let's go."


	85. Chapter 85

Somehow, we managed to huddle under the Cloak.

Perhaps it worked because George had nothing against pressing himself completely against me.

He managed to turn on the spot and land us in Hogsmeade without anyone getting splinched or falling out from under the Cloak.

The only problem was that the alarms in the little village went off immediately, which led to Death Eaters surrounding us before we even got a chance to move.

"Accio Cloak!" One of them yelled.

I gripped onto the Cloak tightly, and luckily was able to keep it on us until George could cast the countercurse and keep it from being summoned.

"Not under your wrapper then, Potters?" One of the Death Eaters snarled. "Spread out, he's here. And I will bet his sister is too. Remember— her we kidnap until further notice. Unharmed."

"Let's just leave!" Hermione whispered. "Disapparate now!"

"We're not backing out now," George muttered.

"We know you're here, Potter:, and there's no getting away! We will find you!" A Death Eater yelled.

"They've put up a trap to catch us," I said. "They might have one to stop us from leaving."

"We can't risk it," Hermione said fearfully.

"Hermione just—"

"What about the dementors?" A Death Eater called. "Let em have free reign, they'll find him quickly enough!"

I looked at George. He looked afraid now.

"We have to try and Disapparate!" Hermione insisted. She turned on the spot. Nothing happened.

"I knew they'd trapped us here!" I said. "I TOLD you, Hermione—"

Suddenly the air became cold.

I turned and saw about a dozen dementors being released on the street.

"Oh my God," I said in a high pitched voice that normally didn't belong to me. "Crap— crap— we have to do something but not Patronuses— it'll give us away—"

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry hissed.

"No!" I growled.

The stag burst out of his wand and trampled the oncoming dementors.

"No!" I hissed. "No... you should have let Hermione and Ron!"

"I think it would have given us away either way," Harry said as George urged us to sneak around the edge of the sidewalk.

"It's him down there! Down there! I saw his Patronus!" A voice called.

"Potters, in here, keep quiet!" Another voice said. I turned and saw the owner of the Hogs Head urging us in. I shoved Harry inside and Hermione and Ron followed. George was the last one in, and as soon as he stepped inside, the barman poked his head out.

"Upstairs, keep the Cloak on, and stay quiet!" The man muttered as the Death Eaters ran up to the door.

We wasted no time in scurrying upstairs.

"I go to put my cat out and see dementors!" The barman snapped. "You send dementors down my street, I'll send a Patronus back at em!"

"That wasn't your Patronus, that was Potter's!" One of the Death Eaters protested. "That was a stag!"

"Stag?" The barman said. "Idiot! Expecto Patronum! That is a goat!"

"I still say I saw a stag Patronus!" The other Death Eater said.

"It's a goat!" The barman roared.

"Fine we made a mistake!" The Death Eater said. "Break curfew again and we won't be so lenient!"

The barman slammed the door in their faces.

"They're absolute idiots!" The barman said as he trudged up the stairs.

"Wait a minute," George said. "Aberforth Dumbledore?"

"Yeah," he said a bit gruffly. "Here... have some food."

We ate quickly, not wanting to waste a single minute.

"We need to get into Hogwarts," Harry said abruptly.

"What you've got to do," Aberforth said, "is get as far from here as you can."

"We can't do that, we MUST get into the castle," I said.

"And even so we can't Disapparate anymore," George said.

Aberforth groaned. "You need to leave."

"Dumbledore left us a mission!" Harry said.

"Let it go before you follow him!" Aberforth said. "Save yourself!"

"We need to get into Hogwarts," Harry repeated. "If you can't help us, we'll wait until daybreak, leave you in peace, and try to find a way in ourselves. If you CAN help us— well now would be a great time to mention it."

Aberforth sighed and turned to a portrait of a little girl I knew for certain had to be Ariana Dumbledore.

"You know what to do," he said.

She smiled and turned, fading into darkness.

"Where is she going?" I asked.

"There's only one way in now," Aberforth said. "You must know they've got all the secret passageways covered at both ends. Dementors everywhere and regular patrols inside the school, from what my sources tell me. The place has never been so heavily guarded. How you expect to do anything once you get inside it, with Snape in charge and the Carrows as his deputies, well that's your lookout, isn't it? You say you're prepared to die."

I turned back to the picture and saw Ariana coming back, with someone who appeared to be a very bloody and bruised Neville Longbottom.

He hopped out of the portrait and into the bar.

"Neville!" Ron cried.

"You guys came!" He said excitedly. "I knew you would..."

"God Neville, what HAPPENED to you?" I said, observing his face.

"Oh that's nothing, Seamus is worse," he said casually. "Shall we get going then? Oh and Ab— there might be a couple more people on the way."

"Couple more?" Aberforth asked. "What do you mean a couple more? There's a curfew and a Caterwauling Charm on the whole village!"

"They'll be Apparating directly into the bar," Neville said. "Just send them down the passage when they get here, will you? Thanks a lot."

Neville turned to me. "Order's been contacted. The others are on their way."

"Thank God," George breathed, covering his face.

Neville nodded to Aberforth then urged us into the portrait.

"Did you guys really break into Gringotts and escape on a dragon?" Neville asked. "Terry Boot got beaten up by Carrow for yelling about it in the Great Hall at dinner!"

"We did," I said with a laugh. "It was rather fun."

"So," Hermione pressed, looking nervous. "Tell us about the Carrows you mentioned."

"They're Death Eaters, right?" I asked.

"Yeah. They're in charge of discipline aside from teaching," Neville said. "They like punishment, the Carrows."

"Like Umbridge?" I asked.

"Nah, they make her look tame!" He said. "The other teachers are supposed to report us to them if we do anything wrong but they try to avoid it. They hate them as much as we do."

"That's horrible... what do they do?" Hermione asked.

"Amycus, the bloke, teaches what used to be Defense— except now it's just Dark Arts. We're supposed to practice the Cruciatus Curse on people who've earned detentions—"

"WHAT?" George and I asked.

"No!" George hissed, looking very annoyed.

He must have been thinking about Ginny.

"Yeah that's how I got this one," Neville said, pointing at a gash in his cheek. "I refused to do it. Some of the Slytherins are into it— Crabbe and Goyle are top of the class for it."

"That's disgusting," I said. "This school has become horrible."

"That's not even the worst of it. Amycus's sister Alecto teaches Muggle Studies, which is compulsory for everyone," Neville said. "We've got to listen to her explain how Muggles are like animals, stupid, dirty, how they drove wizards into hiding by being vicious to them, and how the natural order is being reestablished. I got this one—" he pointed a different gash on his face "for asking her how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got."

"Blimey Neville," Ron said. "There's a time and place for getting a smart mouth."

"You wouldn't have stood for it either," Neville said. "It helps when people stand up to them, it gives them hope. I used to notice that when you did it, Harry."

"Neville they've been using you as a knife sharpener!" George said. "You're lucky they haven't used you as a dartboard!"

"It doesn't matter," he said. "They don't want to spill too much pure blood, so they'll torture us a bit if we're mouthy but they won't actually kill us."

Neville pulled out one of the DA Galleons we used to use.

"You kept using them!" I said.

"They've been great," Neville said, beaming at Hermione and I. "The Carrows never figured out how we communicated— it drove them mad! We used to sneak out at night and put graffiti on the walls: Dumbledore's Army, Still Recruiting. Stuff like that. Snape hated it"

"Used to? Hated?" I asked. "What happened, did they torture you for it?"

"Not just that— it got more didficult as time went on," Neville said. "Luna got lost after Christmas, Ginny never came back after Easter, and we were the leaders."

George breathed deeply. "Ginny hasn't been here in months?" He looked relieved.

"Nah," Neville said. "She's safer at home, she is... anyway, the Carrows even knew I was behind it so they came down hard on me. Then Michael Corner went and got caught releasing a first year they'd chained up, and they tortured him pretty badly. That scared people off."

"No kidding," Ron said.

"Yeah well I couldn't ask people to go through what Michael did so we dropped those kinds of stunts," Neville continued. "We were still fighting, doing underground stuff, right up until a couple of weeks ago. That's when they decided there was only one way to stop me, I suppose. They went for Gran."

"They didn't!" I cried.

"Yeah...it had worked well to kidnap kids and force the relatives to behave. They just did it the other way around," he said.

"But what happened to her?" I asked.

"Well Dawlish is still in St Mungo's and Gran's on the run," Neville said. "Telling me she was proud of me, that I'm my parents' son, and to keep it up."

"Go Gran," George said, looking impressed.

He pushed open the painting.

"Look who it is! Didn't I tell you?" Neville announced.

Several people screamed joyfully as we entered.

It was like we entered a 'Golden Trio + Beth and George' fanclub meeting.

Next thing we knew we were being hugged, high five, pounded on the back, hair ruffled, and hands shaken by more than twenty people.

"Where are we?" Harry asked.

"Room of Requirement of course!" Neville said. "Looks even better!"

And it did. The room was covered in house banners, all except for Slytherin. It looked almost like a joint common room.

"And the Carrows can't get in?" Harry asked.

"No," Seamus Finnigan said. I gasped, seeing his face all bruised. "It's a proper hideout."

"It does appear so," I said, beaming. Then I frowned. "Jesus, Seamus... you look awful."

"Eh," he said. "It's whatever." He turned to Harry. "Well? What are we going to do then, Harry? What's the plan?"

"Plan?" Harry asked. "Well there's something we— Ron, Hermione, and I— need to do. And then we'll get out of here."

"Just you three?" Someone asked.

"What do you mean get out of here?" Neville asked. I gulped and turned to Harry.

"We haven't come to stay," Harry said, rubbing his scar. "There's something important we need to do."

"What is it?" Terry Boot asked. I frowned.

"We can't tell you," I said.

Everyone burst into commotion.

"Why can't you tell us?" Neville asked. "It's something to do with fighting You Know Who, right?"

"Yep," I said. "But we— we have to do it alone."

"Why?" Seamus demanded.

"Dumbledore left us four the job," Harry said.

"We're his army!" Neville said. "We're all in it together, we've been keeping it going while you three have been off on your own."

"It hasn't exactly been a picnic, mate," Ron said. "We went through a lot. Beth and George have probably set records for most blood lost in a single day."

"Look—" Harry started.

Luna and Dean burst in through the portrait hole. Suddenly more people began to flood in— Lee Jordan, Cho Chang, Fred, and Ginny.

"FRED! LEE! GINNY!" George cried, running to them.

He picked Ginny up and spun her around as Lee and Fred ambushed me with hugs.

"God we thought you were dead," Fred said, kissing my forehead. "Mind you, when Bill told us George got stabbed..."

"I'm okay!" George said, appearing at my side. He lifted his shirt to reveal the scar on his side.

"Badass," Lee said.

Ginny came to me and pulled me into a hug.

"I've missed you so much!" She sighed, leaning into me.

"I'm glad you're okay," I said, stroking her hair.

Ginny pulled away, and Harry came to hug her.

"What's the plan, Harry?" Lee asked once he'd pulled away.

"There isn't one," Harry said.

"Just going to make it up as we go along, are we? My favorite kind," Fred said.

"Why can't they help?" Ron asked. Then my eyes widened, realization dawning upon me.

"They can help," I said. "And we need them."

I cleared my throat.

"Listen up, everyone!" I said. "We need to find a specific thing— something to help us overthrow You Know Who! It's here at Hogwarts but we don't know where. It might have belonged to Ravenclaw. Has anyone heard of an object like that?"

"Well there's her lost diadem," Luna said thoughtfully. "The lost diadem of Ravenclaw."

"Bingo," George said.

"Yeah but the lost diadem is LOST," Michael Corner said. "That's sort of the point."

"When was it lost?" I asked.

"Couple centuries ago," Terry said. "Flitwick said it vanished with Ravenclaw herself. People have looked but no one's ever found a trace of it."

"What is a diadem?" Ron asked.

"It's like a crown," Terry answered. "Ravenclaw's was supposed to have magical properties, enhance the wisdom of the wearer."

"And has anyone seen anything that looks like it?" Harry asked.

"If you'd like to see what the diadem is supposed to look like, look at Ravenclaw's statue in the common room!" A little Ravenclaw in the back said.

Harry turned to Ron, Hermione, and I, his eyes watering in pain.

"He's on the move," he whispered. "Beth, come with me to look at this statue to see what the diadem looks like. Ron and Hermione— wait for us here and keep the other one safe. George— plan with Fred and Lee for spells you can use for protection— and if you could, plan some traps for the entrances. I have a bad feeling about it."

George nodded, and was just about to come toward me, when Cho Chang stood up, looking at me.

Still didn't really like her.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I'll take you," she said, staring at Harry.

"No," Ginny and I said together.

I almost smirked.

Cho frowned.

"Luna, will you take us?" I asked sweetly.

"I'd love to go," Luna said. Cho looked at me angrily and sat down.

George then seized the chance and wrapped his arms around me, kissing me hard on the lips.

"I'll see you in a bit?" He mumbled.

"Of course," I said, touching his cheek.

Harry then draped his Cloak over Luna and I and we scurried out of the room.

We continued as fast as we could. Several times we passed by ghosts and hid from sight. Harry kept nervously checking the Marauder's Map.

Finally we arrived. Luna knocked on the door.

The eagle's mouth opened.

"What came first, the phoenix or the flame?"

I looked at Luna and Harry.

"Isn't there a password?" Harry asked.

"Nope," Luna said. "You have to answer a question."

"And if you get it wrong?" Harry asked.

"There's multiple ways to answer," Luna said. "Let's think..."

"Fuck," I said. "Uhh... A circle has no beginning?"

"Correct," the eagle said.

"Thank Merlin," I breathed.

The door opened, and Luna urged us forward and took the Cloak off us.

Harry darted forward and looked at the statue. I looked up at the diadem.

"Alright I've got a good mental picture of it," I said. "I'm ready to go."

"Me too... listen to this, 'wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure,'" Harry read from the base.

"Which makes you pretty skint, witless," Alecto Carrow cackled from behind. We whipped around in time to see her press her Dark Mark, which made me raise my wand— except Luna was faster.

"Stupefy!" She screamed.

Alecto hit the floor with a thump.

"I've never Stunned anyone except in our DA lessons," she said proudly.

"You did brilliant Luna," I said, looking up and seeing that several sleeping Ravenclaws had come out from the dorm.

Harry draped the cloak over us quickly.

"I think she might be dead!" A first year Ravenclaw said in delight as he saw Alecto.

"Aw, they're pleased," Luna said.

There was a rap on the door.

"Where do Vanished objects go?" The eagle said.

"I dunno, do I? Shut it!" A man snarled.

"Must be Amycus," I said.

"Alecto! Alecto! Are you in there? Have you got him? Open the door?" He yelled.

He shot some spells at the door and nothing happened.

"ALECTO!" Amycus roared. "If we haven't got the Potters and he comes— we'll go the same way as the Malfoys! Open up!"

"What are you doing, Professor Carrow?" McGonagall asked from outside.

The Ravenclaws began to go back up into their dormitories.

"Trying to get through this door!" Amycus snapped. "Go and get Flitwick! Get him to open it now!"

"Isn't your sister in there?" McGonagall asked. "Didn't Professor Flitwick let her in earlier this evenings at your urgent request? Perhaps she could open the door. Then you needn't wake up half the castle!"

"She isn't answering you old besom! You open it!" Amycus snarled.

"Where do Vanished objects go?" The eagle asked again, clearly having been listening to the conversation.

"Into nonbeing, which is to say, everything," McGonagall said.

The door swung open.

The Ravenclaws that had lingered behind sprinted up for the stairs just as Amycus burst in. He saw Alecto on the floor and screamed in rage.

"What've they done, the little whelps?" He screamed. "I'll Cruciate the lot of them! We haven't got him and they've gone and killed her—"

"She'll be fine!" McGonagall said. "She's only Stunned."

"No she bludgering well won't!" Amycus shouted. "Not after the Dark Lord gets a hold of her! She's gone and sent for him— I felt my Mark burn. He thinks we've got the Potters!"

"Got the Potters?" McGonagall said.

"He told us the Potters might try and get into Ravenclaw Tower!" Amycus said.

"Why would they do that? They were both in Gryffindor!" McGonagall said.

"We were told they might come in here!" Amycus said furiously. "We can push it off on the kids..Yeah that's what we'll do. Say Alecto was ambushed by the kids then say they forced her to press her Mark and that's why get got a false alarm. He can punish them. Couple of kids more or less, what's the difference?"

I gritted my teeth, and McGonagall did too.

"Only the difference between truth and lies, courage and cowardice, a difference in short which you and your sister seem unable to appreciate," McGonagall said, her nostrils flaring. "You are not going to pass of your many ineptitudes to the students of Hogwarts. I won't permit it."

"Excuse me?" Amycus said, coming close to McGonagall and sneering in her face. "It's not a case of what you'll permit, Minerva McGonagall! Your time is over! We're in charge— you back me up or pay the price."

He spat in her face.

Harry shot out from under the Cloak before I could.

"Crucio!" He yelled. Amycus collapsed on the floor and writhed in pain, wailing.

"I see what Bellatrix meant," Harry told me. "You really need to mean it."

"Potter! What— how— that was foolish!" McGonagall said.

"He spat at you," Harry said. Luna and I slowly climbed out from under the Cloak.

McGonagall's eyes widened.

"That was very gallant of you— but don't you realize?"

"Yes I do," Harry said.

"I am happy to see you," she said. She saw me and she smiled. "Miss Potter..."

She pulled Harry and I into her arms and hugged us.

"I was so worried for you both," she said softly. I hugged her back, smiling.

"Professor," Harry said, pulling away. "Voldemort is on his way."

"You must flee!" McGonagall whispered. "As quickly as you can!"

"I can't," Harry said. "Do you know where the diadem of Ravenclaw is?"

"Of course not it's been lost for centuries!" She said. "Potters, it was utter madness for you to enter the castle."

"We had to Professor," I said. "There's something hidden we need to find—"

"Potters," McGonagall said. "If he does indeed know you are here—"

Harry clutched his scar and hissed.

"Time's running out, Voldemort is getting nearer!" He said. "I'm acting on Dumbledore's orders."

McGonagall straightened up.

"We shall secure the school agains He Who Must Not Be Named while you search for this object," she said.

"Is that possible?" Harry asked.

"Of course," McGonagall said. "We teachers are rather good at magic, you know. I'm sure we can hold him off for awhile. Of course something will have to be done about Professor Snape—"

"Let me—" Harry said.

"—and if Hogwarts is about to enter a state of siege with the Dark Lord at the gates, it would indeed be advisable to take as many innocent people out of the way as possible. With the Floo Network under observation, and Apparition impossible within the grounds—"

"There's a way," I said suddenly. "The Hog's Head— through the Room of Requirement!"

"But Miss Potter.. that's hundreds of students," McGonagall said.

"They're concentrating on the school," I said. "Not the Hog's Head. It's the only way."

"I suppose," she agreed. "Come, let's alert the other Heads of Houses. Keep the Cloak on."

Harry and Luna draped the Cloak over us. We exited the Common Room, following McGonagall closely. McGonagall cast a Patronus charm. Three silver cats with spectacle markings raced along the hall.

What a badass. She had THREE Patronuses.

We had nearly reached the first floor when I noticed a shadow. McGonagall seemed to have noticed that too.

"Who's there?" She asked.

"Is it I," Snape said, stepping out from behind a suit of armor.

Dramatic much?

I almost felt bad about what happened next, since I knew he didn't actually deserve it.

"Where are the Carrows?" He asked.

"Wherever you told them to be, I expect, Severus," McGonagall said.

"I was under the impression," he said, "that Alecto had apprehended an intruder."

"What gave you that impression?" McGonagall said.

Snape flashed his Dark Mark.

"Oh naturally," McGonagall said. "I forgot you Death Eaters have your own private means of communication."

If only she knew.

Snape smiled wryly.

"I didn't know it was your night to patrol the corridors, Minerva," he said.

"You have some objection?" She asked.

"I wonder what could have brought you out of you bed at this late hour?"

"I thought I heard a disturbance."

"All seems calm...have you seen Harry Potter, Minerva? Because if you have I must insist—"

McGonagall slashed her wand through the air. Snape blocked her with lightning speech. A torch was knocked down and the hallway burst into flames.

The flames became a lasso— then a serpent— then daggers that launched themselves at Snape. He barely managed to avoid them.

"Minerva!" Flitwick called, sprinting towards the scene with Professor Sprout.

Flitwick blasted a spell at the suit of armor Snape was behind. It became alive and attacked him. He barely avoided it and ran into a classroom. The Professors followed closely behind.

"COWARD!" McGonagall snapped, making me wonder what the bloody hell had happened.

Harry and Luna came out from under the Cloak, and I followed them. Harry suddenly touched his scar and screamed.

"He's coming now! We've got to barricade the school!" He shouted.

The Professors looked at each other.

"Potter has work to do in the castle on Dumbledore's orders," McGonagall said. "We need to put in place every protection of which we are capable while the Potters do what they need to do."

"You realize of course that nothing we do will be able to keep You Know Who out indefinitely?" Flitwick squeaked.

"But we can hold him up," Sprout said.

"I suggest we establish basic protection around the place then gather our students and meet in the Great Hall. Most must be evacuated, but if anyone overage wishes to stay and fight they can," McGonagall said.

"Alright," Sprout said. "Meet you in the Hall in twenty minutes with my house."

______

Once I had finally managed to break into the Slytherin Common Room and get them to meet in the Great Hall, I found McGonagall preparing the evacuation plan.

"Evacuation will be overseen by Mr Filch and Madam Pomfrey. Prefects— when I give the word you will organize your House and taken your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point," McGonagall said.

"And what if we want to stay and fight?" Ernie Macmillan asked.

"If you are of age, you may stay," she said.

I saw some of the older Slytherins shift uncomfortably.

They wouldn't fight against their families.

I went to stand beside George, who wrapped his arm around me, observing all the students exploding with questions.

"What about our stuff?" A girl asked.

"We have no time to collect possessions," McGonagall said. "We need to get you out safely—"

The air went cold.

George pulled me close and protectively wrapped his arms entirely around me, pulling his wand out as a voice rang through the Hall.

"I know that you are preparing to fight," it said. "Your efforts are futile...you cannot fight me. I don't want to kill you. I have great respect for Hogwarts teachers. I do not want to spill magical blood."

I looked at Harry, my heart beating fast.

"Give me Harry Potter," Voldemort said. "And none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight."

It seemed he no longer needed me.

He was just going straight for my brother.


	86. Chapter 86

Obviously, hearing Voldemort's voice caused mass panic.

Somehow, the Prefects and new Head Girl and Boy managed to properly evacuate the younger students.

Now there only remained the arriving Order members, including a majority of the Weasley family, my godfather and Tonks, and several other witches and wizards I didn't recognize. This of course, along with the older students that had stayed.

"There isn't enough people," I said, wringing my hands together. "We need—"

The door burst open just as Kingsley stood up on the table, and we all whipped around.

"YOU CAME!" I screamed.

Corey, Alex, Savanna, and Lynn had entered the Great Hall, marveling at the ceiling.

Behind them were Katie, Batavia, Oliver, and a girl who looked so much like Batavia, I could only assume it was her older sister Kesenia.

"When Batavia said she was coming, we just had to!" Savanna said, coming and wrapping her arms around me.

Corey shook George's hand, and I noticed Alex lingering beside Katie.

"Batavia," I sighed, pulling her in for a hug. I then dragged Oliver into it. "You guys... you didn't have to come."

"Bixby will be fine with Batavia's mum," Oliver said, smiling. I could see bags under his eyes.

"Is he a crier?" I asked.

"No, he giggles," Batavia said. "Giggles so much it'd be obnoxious if it wasn't so damn cute. One month old already, my little baby..."

"Congratulations," I said, putting my hands on their shoulders. "Truly. And thank you for being here."

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world," Oliver said. "I miss it here. And I don't want Bixby to grow up afraid to go to Diagon Alley."

Batavia put her hand on Oliver's chest while I said hello to Kesenia.

"I have heard so much about you," she said, smiling. "It's nice to meet you, Elizabeth."

"It's so good to meet you, Kesenia," I said, shaking her hand firmly.

She smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going with the Order..."

She moved to stand beside Emmeline Vance, and I turned to Katie.

"Look at you, putting those baby birthing hours in," I said, ruffling her hair.

"Teddy was the much easier delivery," she said. "Partly because I didn't have to sneak to America... but he just popped out. Batavia was in labor for nearly an entire day. I felt awful for her."

I noticed Alex protectively draping his arm over her shoulder.

I was about to warn him he better not hurt Katie, but I was interrupted by the doors opening again.

"CASSIUS!"

I sprinted forward and threw my arms around Warrington, who laughed.

"I'm surprised they let me in," he said, setting me down.

I pulled him toward us, and Luna rushed forward, embracing him.

So they were still together.

I loved seeing that.

"Okay!" Kingsley yelled, waving his arms. "Seems we've got everyone now. We've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast! A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Sprout, Flitwick, and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers— Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor—where they'll have a good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus, Arthur, and I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organize defense on the entrances and the passageways into the school—"

"Sounds like a job for us!" Fred said.

"We got it," George said.

"Alright, leaders up here and we'll divide up the troops!" Kingsley said.

Kesenia opted to go into the grounds. Warrington, for Luna's sake, joined the Ravenclaw group at the Towers with Luna.

"Potter!" McGonagall said sharply, seeing Harry was standing and waiting while George and I gathered Fred, Lee, the new arrivals. "Aren't you supposed to be looking for something?"

"Yes— sorry," Harry said. "Let's go, Beth!"

"I have to come?" I shrieked, seeing George frowned.

"Please," Harry said.

"Can I come?" Savanna asked hopefully.

"Sure, whatever," Harry said, waving for us to follow him.

"Be back," I said, pecking George on the cheek before grabbing Savanna's hand and dragging her out past Harry.

We ran out of the Great Hall and passed the multitude of students up the marble staircase.

"He knew I'd go to Ravenclaw tower," Harry mumbled. "So it is the diadem."

"The what?" Savanna asked.

"We'll catch you up later," I said. "Right know, we need to find someone who knows Ravenclaw very well."

Harry's eyes widened. "We need to go back— we have to talk to Nick!"

"What the hell is a Ravenclaw?" Savanna cried.

As we ran down the hall, I quickly explained it to her, in a version fit for 'Hogwarts, A History: For Dummies.'

Luckily, Nearly Headless Nick wasn't too hard to find.

"NICK!" Harry called. "I need to talk to you!"

"Woah!" Savanna said as Nick floated to us. "Ghost!"

Nick stared at her strangely then turned to Harry and I. "My dear Potters!"

"Nick, you've got to help us!" Harry panted. "Who's the ghost of Ravenclaw tower?"

"The Gray Lady of course, but if it is ghost services you require then I'd be very happy to help you—"

"Nothing personal Nick, but it's got to be her," I said. "It has to do with Ravenclaw. Do you know where she is?"

Nick looked around. "That's her over there, the young woman with the long hair."

We were getting very lucky with finding the ghosts.

"This place is fucking awesome," Savanna breathed as Harry sprinted toward the Gray Lady.

Unfortunately, she caught sight of us and seemed to begin gliding away from us.

"Gray Lady!" I called, making her stop. "Please— we must talk to you!"

She turned to us, not speaking. She allowed us to catch up to her and waited for us to give an explanation.

"Please, we need help!" Harry said. "We need to know anything you can tell us about the lost diadem!"

"I'm afraid I can't help you," she said coldly.

"This is urgent!" I cried frantically. "If the diadem is as Hogwarts, we need to find it fast!"

"You are hardly the first students to covet the diadem," she said. "Generations of them have badgered me—"

"We're not trying to get better marks!" Harry said. "It's about defeating Voldemort! Aren't you interested in that?"

"Of course I am!" She said. "How dare you even suggest—"

"Help us then," I cried. "Please!"

Savanna looked nervously between her and us as the Gray Lady contemplated helping us.

Harry decided she needed more convincing.

"If you care about Hogwarts, if you want to see Voldemort finished, you've got to tell us anything you know about the diadem!" Harry pleaded.

"I am Helena Ravenclaw," she whispered, "and I stole the diadem from my mother. I sought to make myself cleverer— more important than her. I ran away with it."

Savanna looked like she was watching some extremely interesting Muggle reality show.

"My mother, they say, never admitted that the diadem was gone, but pretended that she had it still. She concealed her loss, my dreadful betrayal, even from the other founders of Hogwarts.

"Then she fell ill... fatally ill. In spite of my perfidy, she was desperate to see me one more time. She sent a man who had long loved me, though I spurned his advances, to fond me. She knew that he would not rest until he had done so.

"He tracked me to the forest where I was hiding. When I refused to return with him, he became violent. The Baron was always a hot tempered man. Furious at my refusal, jealous of my freedom, he stabbed me."

"Wait, the Bloody Baron?" I asked. "Slytherin's ghost?"

"Yes," she said. "When he saw what he'd done, he was overcome with remorse. He took the weapon that had claimed my life and used it to kill himself. All these centuries later, he wears his chains as an act of penitence... as he should."

"What about the diadem?" Harry asked.

"It remained where I hid it," she said. "In a hollow tree in a forest in Albania. A lonely place I thought was far beyond my mother's reach."

"Albania?" Savanna said. "I-I can get us there— but we— we need this fast don't we?"

Harry held his hand up to stop her.

"Wait," he mumbled. "Albania... you— you've already told this story to someone, haven't you? Another student?"

I suddenly remembered something he'd mentioned from his lessons with Dumbledore.

"I had no idea!" Helena cried out. "He was flattering... seemed to understand... to sympathize..."

"Well you weren't the first person Tom Riddle wormed things out of," Harry said. "He could be charming when he wanted..."

I was sickened at the memory of Tom Riddle attempting to get me to rule at his side.

As often as I washed my face and brushed my teeth, I never felt I could remove the dirty feeling I had from his lips on mine.

Harry then looked at me, his eyes wide, his face pale.

"The night he asked for a job!" He cried.

"What?" I asked.

"He hid the diadem in the castle the night he asked Dumbledore to let him teach!" Harry said. "He must've hidden it on his way up to or down from Dumbledore's office! But it was still worth trying to get the job, then he might've got his chance to nick Gryffindor's sword as well... thank you! Thanks!"

Harry sprinted back down the hallway, and a confused Savanna followed us.

"What the hell kind of school do you guys go to?" She hissed.

"A very crazy one," I said. "But that might be because Harry and I are here..."

As we turned down one of the corridors, a window shattered, and the unmistakable figure of Hagrid flew in, with Fang in his arms.

"Hagrid!" I screamed.

"Harry! Beth!" He cried. "Yer here! Yer here!"

He turned to the open window. "Good boy, Grawpy! I'll see yer in a moment, there's a good lad!"

"Woah," Savanna said, looking at Hagrid. "Big man."

Hagrid seemed about to introduce himself, but was cut off by a loud piercing scream outside. Several lights flashed.

"It's midnight!" Harry said, cursing.

"Blimey Harry, this is it, eh?" Hagrid panted. "Time ter fight?"

"Yes," I squeaked. "Hagrid— where have you come from?"

"Heard You Know Who from up in our cave," Hagrid said. "Voice carried, didn't it! Knew yeh mus' be here when I hear' it.. know what mus' be happenin'. So we came ter join in, me an' Grawpy an' Fang. Smashed our way through the boundary by the forest, Grawpy was carryin' us, Fang an' me. Told him ter let me down at the castle, so he shoved me through the window, bless him. Not exactly what I mean' but... where's Ron an' Hermione."

"No idea," I said. "They— they disappeared when the students began to evacuate."

Hagrid nodded slowly. He opened his mouth to speak.

There was the sound of an explosion from somewhere inside the castle. I heard whooping laughter.

"Good one, Lee!"

"Hagrid— Savanna and I have got to go!" I said. "We need to help the twins set traps!"

"Ye go and do tha' Beth," Hagrid said. "Yer going ter do good with tha'...."

I grabbed Savanna's hand and ran down another hall, where we found George and Fred with the others, having just destroyed the entrance from the witch statue's hump— the one Harry had long ago used to escape to Honeydukes.

"That is caved in now," Lee said happily, his face covered in dirt. "Next is— hey Beth!"

Savanna and I ran up, and George came and hugged me.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I said. "But listen you guys— the fight has started. We need to hurry."

I noticed Savanna had begun to explain to Corey and Lynn that we had ghosts.

"Guys," I said, drawing their attention back. "I think... I think we should set traps near the windows at the front just in case— and at the lower balconies."

"Good idea," Fred said. "I think if we combine a bombards with a few of our little explosives from the shop... we can make sure they get blown up on impact if they come flying near those balconies."

"Let's do it then," George said, taking my hand. "Where should we meet when we're done?"

"Room of Requirement," I said quickly. "Fred, Corey, Lynn— take the West balcony near the Owlery. Alex, Katie, Batavia, Oliver, and Lee— the large balcony above the entrance hall. George, Savanna, and I will take the small balcony near the forest."

"Report back as soon as you're done!" Lee yelled as he urged his group away.

Savanna whooped slightly as we began to run.

She was too excited.

"Here!" George said, skidding down another hall.

"I think your school is cooler than Ilvermorny, just don't tell the others I said that!" Savanna said as George kicked open a door, revealing a very deserted balcony.

He took out a small bag with the Weasley Wizard Wheezes logo and dumped its contents out, revealing several dungbombs and firecrackers.

I laughed as we began charming the firecrackers to create bigger explosions.

"What?" George said curiously.

"Just remembering when you set off all those fireworks on Umbridge..."

"I remember that!" Savanna said.

"You weren't even there," George said, raising an eyebrow. "You— you weren't even in the country."

"But we read all about it!" She said. "We found out about that swamp you made— hey, what if you dumped that on some of the Death Eaters?"

"Not a bad idea," George said as I quickly set the fireworks near the edge of the balcony.

George then waved his wand, charming them to make sure they only hit Death Eaters.

"We can launch a few now to that group there," I suggested.

"And send that group a swamp!" Savanna said.

George looked like a giddy child.

He taught Savanna how to make the swamp as I began flicking my wand repeatedly to send the firecracker bombs toward a large group of Death Eaters.

Savanna then cast the spell to leave a group making their way to the entrance be delayed.

Then spells began to be fired in our direction.

"Time to go!" George said, yanking Savanna and I back into the castle.

It didn't take us long to arrive there, and soon after we were all together again.

Then Harry walked in, and looked around.

"They're not here?" He hissed.

"Who's not here?" Katie piped up.

"Ron and Hermione!" He said. "I can't find—"

Just then, Ron and Hermione burst into the room, their hands clasped together.

Under their arms they had sacks of large, dirty, curved yellow objects.

"Ew, what the fuck are those?" Savanna said. Lynn gagged, and cringed.

"Where the hell have you been?" Harry demanded, ignoring what we both knew were a load of basilisk fangs.

"Chamber of Secrets," Ron said.

"It was Ron, all Ron's idea!" Hermione cried breathlessly. "It was absolutely brilliant! We were wondering how to get rid of the cup and he thought of the basilisk fangs still in the Chamber!"

"But you need to speak Parseltongue to get in there!" Harry said.

Ron made a strangled hissing noise.

"You did it to open the locket, Harry!" He said. "It took a few tries to get right but got there in the end."

"He was amazing!" Hermione said. "We got the fangs and—and I stabbed the Horcrux— the cup has been destroyed!"

"Excellent!" Harry said. "Well, we know what the diadem looks like and we know it's in here. We need to step out of the room and think of a place to hide things..."

"Hang on a moment!" Ron said. "We've forgotten to evacuate someone!"

"Who?" I asked fearfully.

"The house elves! They'll all be down in the kitchen won't they?" Ron asked. "We can't make them die for us—"

The basilisk fangs crashed to the floor and Hermione leapt into Ron's arms, flinging her arms around his neck and kissing him full on the lips. Ron threw down his sack of fangs and lifted Hermione off her feet.

Corey and Alex whooped as Katie, Batavia, Lynn, and Savanna giggled.

"In this moment?" Harry asked weakly. I laughed, seeing Ron and Hermione snogging now. "Oi! There's a war going on here!"

They broke apart, still wrapping their arms around each other.

"I know mate," Ron said. "So it's now or never, isn't it?"

George face palmed himself.

"Nevermind that— we need to think and make this room similar to know it was when I hid my Potions book," Harry said.

"I think we need to clear everyone out first," I mumbled.

"Can you guys all wait outside or something?" George called.

"I think we'll go join the fight from the towers," Corey said. "We're all very good at aiming from afar."

"You go do that then," I said. "Stay safe."

Batavia waved before running out, clutching Oliver's hand. The others followed, and soon it was just the trio, George, and I inside.

"Get out, come on," Harry said.

We stood outside the door. Hermione closed it, and Harry concentrated.

When he opened the door again, the room had changed— cluttered piles of objects appearing everywhere.

"Did he really think no one would get in?" Ron asked as we stepped back inside.

"He thought he was the only one," Harry murmured. "Too bad for him I've had to hide stuff in my time. It might be down there... let's split up. Look for a stone bust of an old man wearing a wig and a tiara. It's standing on a cupboard and it's definitely somewhere around here..."

George tugged at my arm and pulled me around the edge of the room.

We raced around the room, finding many objects that seemed old, and others that seemed new. I wondered how many objects had been inside when Riddle came to leave the diadem. Surely if he'd seen this heap he'd have thought others knew of it? Or perhaps he thought that was meant to conceal the diadem and had been pleased...

"I bet we can't just summon this one either," George said glumly.

"I wish I still had my powers," I hissed.

"You don't mean that."

"Nah, I don't."

There was a strange sound behind us, and George turned around, his wand raised.

"Didn't that sound like footsteps?" He asked.

"Yeah," I mumbled, scanning across the objects. "But there's so much stuff, I can't see shit."

"Shh!" George said, suddenly tensing. "Do you hear that?"

I paused, and listened.

"Voices," I mumbled. "In here?"

I listened closer, and felt a knot in my stomach.

"Draco," I muttered. "But what is he saying—?"

"Harry," George called. "Are you talking to someone?"

There was a loud crash, and I saw on the other side of the room, a large pile of objects began to collapse.

"Crap!" I hissed.

I whirled around, and saw a broom.

George seemed to read my thoughts, and grabbed the broom, and mounted it. I climbed on behind him, and he flew us full speed to where I could now distinctly see Crabbe and Goyle blasting spells at Harry.

Draco appeared to be getting them to stop.

"No!" Draco roared to Crabbe as we flew right over them. "If you wreck the room you might bury the diadem thing they're looking for!"

"What's that matter?" Crabbe said icily as Harry pulled me out of the way of falling objects. "It's Potter the Dark Lord wants, who cares about a die-dum?"

"Potter came in here to get it!" Draco said impatiently. "So that must mean—"

"Must mean?" Crabbe snapped. "Who cares what you think? I don't take your orders no more, Draco. You an' your dad are finished."

"Harry? What's going on?!" Ron yelled from across the room.

Crabbe seemed to notice there was more movement. He saw George and I on the broom and fired a curse at us, which we narrowly missed.

George growled and flew over him, blasting him with a stunning spell that left him to crumple on the floor.

Harry then leapt up, reaching for the diadem, which I could see sat atop a pile of little trinkets. However, the crumbling wall of items sent it flying across the room.

"STOP!" Draco snarled. "You idiot! The Dark Lord wants Potter alive—"

"I'm not killing him, am I?" Goyle yelled, now having taken Crabbe's place as the lead one firing spells. "But if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what's the diff—?"

Hermione appeared around a corner, shooting a stunning spell at Goyle that only didn't hit him because Draco pushed him out of the way.

"It's the Mudblood!" Goyle growled. "Avada Kedvra!"

The fact he'd aimed to kill Hermione made me so furious I shot a spell at him that caused him go gasp and writhe on the floor.

Draco growled, and waved his wand furiously, looking at me as Crabbe and Goyle both were brought back to consciousness.

Crabbe immediately leapt up and fired another spell at George and I.

"DON'T KILL THEM!" Draco bellowed.

The hesitation on Crabbe and Goyle's part had been just what Harry needed. He disarmed Goyle and sent another stunning spell, which the hit Goyle.

"Avada Kedavra!" Crabbe yelled.

George took the broom into a sharp dive to avoid the curse.

"Bloody fucking hell!" He snarled.

"GEORGE!"

George looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened.

I whipped around and saw Ron and Crabbe running below us. Behind them was an enormous wall of fire, of abnormal size.

"HARRY! HERMIONE!" I screamed as George dove down. Ron seized Hermione's hand and began to pull her.

But the fire was coming too fast.

Draco grabbed the stunned Goyle and began dragging him along.

"THEY'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!" I wailed, seeing the fire coming closer.

"Yes they are!" George said, diving down and snatching up two brooms. "RON! HARRY! CATCH!"

He tossed the brooms down, and Harry and Ron managed to catch them.

Ron mounted his and pulled Hermione to climb on behind him. Harry climbed onto it too, and soon George was leading us to the exit.

We began to fly full speed towards the door. A painful yell came from behind, and I whipped around to see Crabbe fall into the flames.

"Oh Merlin!" I screamed. Harry turned slightly and saw what I'd seen.

"RON WE HAVE TO DROP HERMIONE OFF AND GO BACK!" He yelled.

"ARE YOU MAD?" Ron asked.

George landed by the door and practically threw me out of harms way. Seconds later, Ron landed, and Hermione got off.

"HARRY!" George yelled as my brother wheeled his broom around and headed back to Draco.

"DAMN IT!" Ron snapped. He leapt back onto his broom and followed them.

I stared in horror as they flew straight toward the fire.

"Crap," George said, straddling the broom again.

"George no!" I cried.

"I need to make sure they get back!" He yelled before kicking off and flying full speed to Ron and Harry.

"NO!" I screamed. I lunged forward, but Hermione dragged me back.

For a dreadful minute I could neither see nor hear anything, and I was afraid they were all gone.

But then I saw three brooms flying to the door. Hermione sprinted forward and held it open as Harry flew out, Draco on his broom, while George and Ron sped forward with Goyle held between them.

As soon as they were out, Hermione slammed the door shut.

Then it disappeared, and the building shook.

"So much for the Room of Requirement," I said, blinking as I stepped back.

I snapped back into reality and ran to George, who was coughing.

"Don't you ever do anything like that again!" I snapped as I slapped his back to get him to cough more.

"Sorry," he wheezed.

Draco got up, and looked me in the eyes.

His jaw twitched, as if he considered saying something, but instead he said absolutely nothing and trudged away.

"Ungrateful prick," Ron hissed as we began to walk down the hall, leaving the stunned Goyle behind.

"Harry, what on your arm?" Hermione asked, wiping off a black liquid from it.

I craned my neck to see it just as Harry opened his hands to reveal the diadem, a bloodlike substance emitting from it. It vibrated ever so slightly, and I heard a distant scream of pain from it.

"The Fiendfyre," Hermione mumbled.

"Sorry?" Harry asked.

"The Fiendfyre!" She said. "Cursed fire! It's one of the substances that destroys Horcruxes... but I would never, ever have dared to use it. It's so dangerous! How did Crabbe know how to...?"

"Must've learned from the Carrows," Ron said through gritted teeth. "Unfortunately he didn't pay attention when they mentioned how to stop it."

"We could have died in a VERY painful way," George said. "Huh. If he hadn't tried to kill us all, then perhaps I'd feel sorry for him."

Hermione shrieked.

"What?" I asked.

"We only have one more Horcrux to Destroy!" She said. "The snake!"

"Thank Merlin," George said. "I can't do this much longer..."

We turned down the hall, and saw the entire group from earlier running our way.

"DEATH EATERS INSIDE!" Katie screamed, looking over her shoulder as Alex dragged her along. "Down this way!"

I flicked my wand out.

"Ready?" I asked George.

"Always," he said, smirking.

We sprinted into the corridor, and saw that there were quite a few Death Eaters.

"YES!" Savanna yelled.

"She gets very excited with duels," Corey said weakly, wiping blood from his mouth.

The first spell flew over my head, and we all launched into battle.

"Hello Minister!" Percy bellowed from down the hall. He slashed his wand and fired a spell at Thicknesse. "Did I mention I'm resigning?"

Fred whooped as he ran over to assist him.

"You're joking, Perce!" Fred said. "I don't thinkI've heard you joke since you were—"

There was an explosion. Percy threw himself and Fred onto the ground.

The rest of us didn't react fast enough.

I had just started dueling another Death Eater. The next thing I knew, I'd flown backwards in the air.

I slammed onto the ground powerfully, skidding across the floor.

I heard ringing in my ears, and groaned. For a moment, all I could see was black.

I slowly opened my eyes.

I saw George beside me, wincing as he slowly began to sit up.

"George?" I mumbled.

"What the hell...." he groaned. He reached his hand out to help me up.

At first, when I stood up, I could still see only smoke.

Then I saw bodies all over the ground.

Most of them were moving. I distinctly saw Hermione, Ron, and Harry whining as they used the wall to sit up.

"NO—NO NO!" Someone screamed.

George blinked, then sprinted toward the source of the sound.

Nearer to Percy and Fred, a small crowd of people were bunched up.

Oliver was very slowly sitting up while Batavia fussed over a large cut he'd gotten on his forehead.

Alex had cradled Katie in his arms to help her stand.

The next thing I saw made my stomach flip.

Lynn was the one screaming. Corey turned and looked at us, his eyes filled with tears.

Percy and Fred were staring like zombies, mumbling something under their breath.

The entire time I'd known Savanna, she'd been beautiful.

I hardly recognized her now.

The only feature that stood out were her eyes. Wide open. Staring. Blue.

It was always the damn eyes.


	87. Chapter 87

"No."

"Lynn we have to—"

"NO!" She screamed, pushing away as Corey gently wrapped his arms around her.

She looked at us and shook her head. "No. I'm not going anywhere."

"Lynn," Corey said. "We can't stay here. And we at least have to take her body d-downstairs..."

Lynn's lip trembled and she stood up.

Then she punched the wall.

"HEY!" Corey and Alex yelled, pulling her away.

"IT ISN'T FAIR!" Lynn screamed. "BRANDON HAD JUST PROPOSED TO HER— HER M-MOTHER WAS JUST ABOUT TO APOLOGIZE FOR WHAT SHE DID!"

I felt my heart ache.

Savanna was about to get married.

Savanna was about to reconcile with her mother.

Except Savanna was now dead.

"We didn't even have to be here!" Lynn wailed. "B-But s-she wanted to! S-She wanted to help! DAMN IT SAVANNA!"

She burst into tears and went limp in Corey's arms.

"I think we need to leave," Corey whispered, wincing. "I don't think...."

"Yeah," Fred said, stepping in slowly. "Come, Lee and I will get you out through one of the passageways."

Corey nodded numbly. He took one last look at Savanna and led Lynn away.

Percy shuddered.

"We need to take her downstairs," he muttered.

I kneeled down slowly, and touched Savanna's face.

"Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you so much."

I closed her eyes, and breathed deeply.

"Corey and Lynn are leaving then?" George said.

"They're right," I said. "They didn't have to be here. I-I hope they didn't feel they HAD to be here..."

Alex came forward and put his hand on my shoulder.

"We knew what we were getting ourselves into," he said. "We knew what we were risking. Savanna knew, and so did Lynn and Corey. We came because we wanted to. We didn't want Voldemort coming to America. We wanted to do our part."

I nodded slowly, and he stood up, putting his arms around Katie, who was crying.

George gently picked up Savanna's body.

"We will take her downstairs," he said, nodding to me.

Batavia stepped back, Oliver turning her away.

"We need to keep fighting," Katie said with a shaky voice. "We have to—"

There was a blast down the hall, followed by anguished screams.

Everyone seemed to snap back into focus. They sprinted back into action and ran to the source of the sound.

"Come on!" George yelled, running down the hall.

I followed him, feeling completely numb.

I was sick of fighting. Sick of losing people.

"BETH!"

I barely managed to duck as a blast roared to my right, blowing up a statue next to us.

"Protego!" I croaked, before pushing George down the next flight of stairs.

"Beth you're not okay," George said once we managed to find a hallway where there was no fighting.

"I know I'm not," I said, seeing we'd reached the entrance hall. "I'm—"

I looked up, and stepped back.

"What?" George asked. He looked to where I was looking. "Oh crap..."

Mr Weasley and Kingsley were carrying my godfather's body.

I sprinted toward them, and immediately took my godfather's face in my hands.

"No," I said hoarsely, my hands shaking. "No— no— what happened—?"

My eyes were welling up with tears.

"Dolohov," Mr Weasley said. "He'd been laying there for awhile..."

"Awhile?" I shrieked. "Why didn't you—?"

"Because Tonks took over the fight— she's...."

That's when I realized what they meant.

"She saw him die and took over," I whispered. "And you couldn't get close enough to get his body until she...."

"I'm so sorry," Kingsley said.

I looked at my godfather's face.

I had to sprint toward the door to throw up inside a trash can.

When my vision finally cleared, I numbly walked into the Great Hall.

George had laid Savanna's body down. Beside her were my godfather and Tonks, their hands touching.

"Beth," George said, taking my shoulders. "I—"

I burst into tears and threw my arms around his neck, muffling the sound in his chest.

"I-I c-can't," I whispered, my hands clutching his back tightly. "W-Why..."

"You need to sit down," he said, helping me into a chair.

I sat down hard, and stared blankly at the bodies.

"This isn't fair," I said softly. "This isn't fucking fair..."

"We should stay here," George suggested. "You're too distracted to fight—"

"No," I said sharply, anxiously tugging at strings in my shirt. "I can't just sit here... not while they're dying for me..."

"Beth don't—"

"AGAIN, George," I said, my vision blurry as I looked up at him. "Cedric, Bixby, Sirius, Dumbledore, Savanna, Uncle Remus, Tonks... why... why again... how—"

"You need to stay here," George insisted, holding me down when I tried to get up. "You're going to get yourself killed if you keep fighting—"

"WHY?" I screamed, closing my eyes tight and stomping angrily on the floor. "WHY, AGAIN? WHY DO THEY HAVE TO DIE? WHY DO THE GOOD PEOPLE DIE? THEY DON'T D-DESERVE..."

I wailed loudly, stomping on the floor again.

"Beth," George said, kneeling before me, rubbing my back. I could see he was crying again. "B-Beth you have to... you have to calm down..."

I pushed him away and stood up.

"I'm going to keep fighting," I said, my lip trembling. "I'm going to—"

"Beth!" George hissed, blocking my path. "You have been through too fucking much—"

I growled in frustration and stepped back.

"I don't want to stay here!" I screamed. "I don't want to hide here when people are fighting for me—"

"You won't do much good when you're about to lose your fucking mind—"

"NO!"

George managed to step back before the ring of energy that burst out burned him.

"Did you see that?" He snarled. "Do you see yourself? You're unstable! You shouldn't be fighting, you need to grieve properly, Beth—"

"I will grieve," I said, breathing deeply, "when it is safe enough to grieve. Get out of my way."

"Beth," George said, still blocking my path. "You're going to get hurt—"

"MAYBE I SHOULD!" I snapped. "MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE JUST GOTTEN HURT FROM THE BEGINNING! MAYBE THEY WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO DIE!"

"It wouldn't have made a difference, they still would have fought—"

"I DON'T CARE!" I screeched. "I DON'T WANT THEM TO HAVE DIED IN VAIN, I HAVE TO—"

I felt someone grab me from behind.

"Beth," Harry said softly, skillfully snatching my wand out of my hand. "Calm down—"

"I can't calm down, Harry—"

"YOU NEED TO."

I whirled around to look at him, and saw he was crying too.

"When did you come in?" I whispered.

"Just now," he said. "Hermione and Ron are at the doors. We checked the Marauder's map and... Voldemort's sitting in the Shrieking Shack."

"Sitting in the Shrieking Shack?" George repeated, looking furious. "His puppets are over here murdering our people and he's chilling in a broken down building?"

"Apparently," Harry said bitterly. "He thinks he's still safe. If we can catch him off guard..."

"I'm coming with you," I said immediately, wiping my eyes and snatching my wand back from Harry.

"No," George said, grabbing my shoulders. "No— you're in NO STATE to waltz in there—"

"I'm going," I said sharply. "I can't stay here with these dead bodies. I have to do something."

George looked down and cursed.

"Fine, but I'm coming with you," he said, grabbing my hand and dragging me to the door.

"Thank you," I murmured.

"But after this," he said, "you and I are going to therapy. Don't fucking argue with me."

I managed a small smile.

We somehow fit under the Cloak, and scurried down the hall and out to the grounds.

We found Hagrid's brother Grawp wrestling with other giants.

"WATCH OUT!" George hissed, pulling us to the side as an enormous foot quite nearly crushed us.

"LOOK!" Hermione shrieked.

Close to a hundred dementors were coming out way, weaving through the crowd.

I threw the Cloak off us and raised my wand.

Hermione stepped beside me, but when she flicked her wand, nothing happened.

"What?" She whispered. "N-No..."

"Let me," Ron said.

He couldn't do it either.

"Crap," Harry whispered. "E-Expecto Patronum!"

The stag didn't appear.

I swallowed back tears.

If they couldn't do it, I would never be able to.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

It wasn't just George that'd yelled.

When I turned, I saw that Luna, Warrington, Seamus Finnigan, and Ernie Macmillan were behind us.

A little hare, a sly fox, a powerful boar, and an enormous python darted through the air alongside George's lumbering hippopotamus and collided with the dementors.

"We're still here," Luna said in the happiest voice she could muster. "We're still fighting. Think of something happy."

"Come on Beth," Warrington said, stepping up and touching my shoulder as he willed his python further. "If I can... you can."

I looked at George.

He wanted to marry me.

Even though I was probably the most unstable person in the world, he wanted me.

My lip twitched into a smile.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Harry's silver stag and my hippo burst out to join the other animals. Ron and Hermione tried again. The silvery otter twirled around the terrier and both zoomed forward to help the boar, the fox, the hare, the stag, the python, and the two hippos fight off the Death Eaters.

"There's so beautiful," Seamus said. I nodded, smiling slightly towards the Patronuses.

"We're going to be okay," George said. "Let's just—"

The ground shook.

I screamed and pulled the George to the ground as a giant passed us, waving a club in his hand that would've swatted us like flies.

"RUN!" Harry screamed. We scrambled and scattered.

"Out of range!" Ron yelled. The club swung and barely grazed the top of his head. My heart went into my throat.

"The Whomping Willow!" Harry said. "Go!"

He sprinted forward and we followed. The tree was waving its branches wildly.

"How do we get in?" Ron asked frantically as George fired spells at the branches to stop them from swatting us away as we neared the location of the knot. "I can see the place— if we just had Addy again—"

"Addy?" Hermione wheezed. "Are you a wizard or not?!"

Ron waved his wand in time with George's spells. A twig leapt up and flew to the "spot" on the tree. The branches ceased to move.

I pushed everyone inside and then grabbed the Cloak from George, casting a spell to expand it slightly before draping it over us again.

We had only walked halfway down the long, familiar hall, before we heard voices.

"...my Lord, their resistance is crumbling."

I gasped, realizing it was Snape speaking.

Harry looked at me with wide eyes.

"—and it is doing so without your help," Voldemort said coolly. "Skilled wizard though you are, Severus, I do not think you will make much difference now. We are almost there, almost. The boy will never find the last Horcrux. And Nagini here will remain by my side..."

"Let me find the boy then!" Snape gasped. "Let me bring you Potter. I know I can find him, my Lord, please."

I anxiously wrung my hands together. We could get close enough and kill the snake, then finish Voldemort off...

"I have a problem, Severus," Voldemort said suddenly. I turned to George, who also looked confused.

"My Lord?" Snape asked. Clearly he wasn't sure what he meant either.

Voldemort raised his wand. I clapped my hand over my mouth to stop me from gasping loudly. He was holding the Elder Wand.

"Why doesn't it work for me, Severus?" Voldemort asked, twiddling the wand in his hands.

"I do not understand..." Snape said. "You have performed extraordinary magic with that wand."

Voldemort licked his lips.

"No," he said. He looked irritated. "I have performed my usual magic. I am extraordinary."

Hermione tensed, and I saw her clutch Ron's hand tightly.

"This wand is not extraordinary," he continued. "It has not revealed the wonders it has promised. I feel no difference between this wand and the one I procured from Ollivander all those years ago."

Snape began to breathe heavily.

"I have thought long and hard, Severus," Voldemort said. "Do you know why I have called you back from the battle?"

I inched closer. Snape looked unmoved, but anxious. I felt my heart beating faster. Voldemort was going to kill him, I knew it.

"No my Lord," Snape said. "But I beg you will let me return. Let me find Potter."

Voldemort laughed wryly. My skin tingled. He was about to murder Snape and he simply found it amusing...

"You sound like Lucius," he said. "Neither of you understands Porter as I do. He does not need finding. He will come to me. This is his weakness, his one great flaw. He will hate watching the others struck down around him, knowing that it is for him that it happens. He will want to stop it at any cost. He will come."

I felt Harry trembling beside me.

"My concern at the moment Severus, is what will happen when I finally meet the boy," Voldemort said.

"My Lord there can be no question, surely?" Snape said. Voldemort's lips curled into a cruel smile.

"But there is a question, Severus. There is," he said, fiddling with the Elder Wand.

He turned to Severus, his red eyes piercing into his soul.

"Why did both the wands I have used fail when directed at Harry Potter?" He asked. Snape gulped.

"I cannot answer that, my Lord," Snape said. Voldemort rolled his eyes.

"Can't you?" He said.

Harry hissed lightly and clutched his scar.

George clapped his hand over Harry's mouth.

The snake stirred a bit.

"My wand of yew did everything of which I asked it, Severus, except kill Harry Potter," Voldemort continued. "Twice it failed. Ollivander told me under torture of the twin cores, told me to take another's wand. I did so— but Lucius' wand shattered upon meeting Potter."

"I have no explanation, my Lord," Snape said.

"I sought a third wand, Severus," Voldemort said, disregarding what Snape had answered. "The Elder Wand, the Wand of Destiny, the Deathstick. I took it from its previous master— I took it from the grave of Albus Dumbledore."

A sickening feeling in my stomach made me want to throw up. I saw Hermione cringe and Ron make a face. Harry was still clutching his scar, but not making sound. George seemed to have cast a silencing charm on him.

Snape looked nervously at Voldemort.

"I think I know why the Elder Wand refuses what it ought to be, refuses as legend says it must perform for its rightful owner," Voldemort said. "Perhaps you already know it? You are a clever man, after all, Severus. You have been a good and faithful servant, and I regret what must happen."

"My Lord!" Snape pleaded. Voldemort shook his head.

"The Elder Wand cannot serve me properly because I am not its true master," he said. "The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. You killed Albus Dumbledore. While you live, Severus, the Elder Wand cannot truly be mine."

There was a hissing noise.

The snake launched forward, closing its fangs around Snape's throat.

Snape's eyes widened terribly. There was a horrible retching noise, and blood spurted into the air.

"I regret it," Voldemort said. He got up and left, the snake trailing behind him.

There was silence, except for the sound of Snape choking on his own blood.

George undid his silencing spell the instant Harry stopped clutching his scar.

Harry then staggered forward to where Snape was.

Snape grabbed Harry's robes as he approached.

"Take it...Take...it," he gasped.

A silvery blue substance was emerging from his mouth, ears, and eyes. Hermione quickly grabbed an empty vial and shoved it into Harry's hands.

He placed it next to Snape's eye and collected the substance. Snape gasped. He looked at me.

"Lily...." he said hoarsely, looking at me.

"Professor," I said softly.

"Look...at... me," he croaked.

My green eyes properly met Snape's black eyes.

Snape gasped and shuddered, and he didn't move again.

"No," Hermione breathed.

I felt tears welling up in my eyes. George put his hand on my shoulder.

"He never hated you Harry," I whispered. "H-He killed Dumbledore on D-Dumbledore's orders..."

"What?" Harry mumbled numbly.

"I'll explain—"

Then a voice spoke.

"You have fought valiantly," Voldemort said cruelly, his voice projected across the castle and the grounds. "Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. You have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste."

I gritted my teeth, suppressing my tears.

"Lord Voldemort is merciful," he continued. "I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured."

There was a pause.

"I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you."

I turned to Harry. His face contorted with anger, as slow tears fell down his cheeks.

"You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself," Voldemort said. "I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you do not come to me— have not given yourself up— then the battle recommences. This time I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

When he finished, Ron and Hermione shook their heads frantically.

"Don't listen to him!" Ron said.

"It's going to be okay," Hermione said quickly.

Harry shook his head.

"Come on," George said, tugging Harry and I up. "Let's— let's go back to the castle. If he's gone to the forest we can... we can make a plan."

Harry nodded his head slowly as George led us out through the hole under the Whomping Willow.

There was no fighting.

Grawp was gone. So were the other giants.

The inside of the castle was unnaturally silent.

Walls lat in pieces. Parts of the banisters had been damaged. There was blood everywhere.

No bodies.

When we arrived in the Great Hall, I nearly collapsed.

I leaned against George, seeing Alex, Katie, Batavia, Oliver, and Kesenia sobbing over Savanna's body.

Mr and Mrs Weasley were kneeled beside Tonks and my godfather. Mrs Weasley was stroking Tonks' hair.

"I need to go to Dumbledore's office," Harry murmured, his face pale. He looked guilty. Torn.

"I'll go with you," I whispered.

"Me too," George offered.

"No," I said, putting my hand on his chest. "Just us."

He nodded slowly. He pulled me in and kissed my forehead.

Harry broke into a sprint, the vial of Snape's tears in his hand.

I followed him, not even bothering to yell his name.

Harry felt the same as I did. Guilty. This was our fault. Voldemort had wanted us, initially.

Because of us, people were dead.

"Password?" The stone gargoyle said when Harry reached the door to Dumbledore's office.

"Dumbledore!" He gasped.

The door opened, and I ran in behind him.

Harry immediately threw the contents of the vial into the Pensieve that lay in the cabinet.

He dunked his face in.

I looked around the office, breathing heavily.

Everything was just as it had been before.

It didn't take long for Harry to finish. After about twenty minutes he pulled his head out.

He simply stood there, breathing heavily.

"Harry?" I whispered.

"He didn't want you to tell me?" He said, turning to me, his eyes red. "He made you pretend you had no idea that Snape was going to kill Dumbledore?"

"I wanted to tell you," I said softly.

Harry looked down.

"Snape was best friends with mum," he said. "They'd known each other since childhood. They were best friends until he called her a M-Mudblood. He loved her. That's why Snape was always nice to you."

I drew a deep breath.

"And that's why Voldemort never killed you," he continued. "Because Snape had asked him to spare you and Mum when he came to kill me."

I stepped back.

"What?" I whispered.

"He wanted mum. And you. To live," Harry said. "He didn't care if I died. And now I will die."

"You aren't going to die—"

"I am," Harry said. "I have to die. I'm meant to die. I'm a Horcrux."

"WHAT?" I cried. "No! No— no..."

"I am," Harry said again. "I have to die."

"Harry..."

"I'm going to the forest," he said slowly. "I'm going to turn myself in. And I want you to be with me. I want you to be with me when I die."

It took too much of my strength to not cry.

"Come on," Harry said blankly, pulling the Invisibility Cloak over us and leading me out.

We walked back down to the hall.

We nearly collided with Neville, who was helping Oliver, who seemed to be back in action collecting bodies, carrying Colin Creevey.

He was tiny in death.

"You know what?" Oliver murmured. "I can manage him alone, Neville."

He heaved Colin over his shoulder and carried him away.

Neville leaned back against the wall, completely pale.

Harry slowly took off the Cloak.

"Neville," Harry said quietly.

"Blimey Harry, you nearly gave me heart failure!" Neville cried as I stepped out from under the Cloak. "Where are you two going?"

"It's part of the plan," Harry said. "There's something I've got to so. Listen Neville—"

"Harry!" Neville cried. "You're not thinking of handing yourself over?"

"Course not," Harry lied. "It's something else. You know Voldemort's snake, Neville? He's got a huge snake... calls it Nagini..."

"I've heard yeah... what about it?"

"It's got to be killed. Ron and Hermione know that, but just in case they're busy... and you get the chance—"

"Kill the snake?" Neville asked.

"Kill the snake," I repeated.

Neville nodded. "All right. You two are okay, are you?"

"Yeah," I mumbled. "We're fine."

Harry waved at Neville. "See you... in a bit."

I felt numb.

Harry threw the Cloak over us and kept going.

Halfway down the next hall we saw Ginny comforting a small girl.

I could tell Harry longed to go to her. To say goodbye.

But he kept walking.

When we reached the edge of the forest, Harry took the Golden Snitch out.

"I open at the close," he muttered.

I watched him bring the Snitch to his lips. He mumbled "I am about to die" against its exterior.

My chest tightened when the metal shell broke open, exposing a small black stone.

"The Resurrection Stone," I whispered.

Harry nodded.

Figures began to appear.

They were not like ghosts. But they were close to it.

Harry had never looked so much like James, our father, who now floated in front of us.

He was wearing the clothes he'd been wearing when he died. His hair untidy and ruffled as it'd been when he had been playing with Harry and I just moments before.

Sirius stood beside him. He had a wide grin as the figure of my godfather came beside him, both looking younger than they had.

When my mother appeared, my breath hitched.

Also dressed in the clothes she'd died in, her green eyes piercing, she smiled at us, and observed our faces.

"Elizabeth," she breathed. "And Harry... you've both been so brave."

"You are nearly there," my father said. "Very close. We are... so proud of you."

"Does it hurt?" Harry asked.

"Dying? Not at all," Sirius said. "Quicker and easier than falling asleep."

"And he will want it to be quick," my godfather said. "He wants it over."

For a moment I understood why the Resurrection Stone was considered so dangerous.

They were drawing him to death.

"I didn't want you to die," Harry said. "Any of you. I'm sorry..."

"I'm sorry too," my godfather said softly. "Sorry I will never know Teddy. But he will know why I died and I hope he will understand. I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life."

He looked directly at me. "You and George will be good parents. You wanted a baby. You take care of Teddy, okay?"

This wasn't how I'd wanted to become a parent.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly.

Harry gulped.

"You'll stay with me?" He mumbled.

"Until the very end," my father said.

"They won't be able to see you?" Harry asked.

"We are part of you both," Sirius said. "Invisible to anyone else."

Harry looked at our mother. "Stay close to me..."

She nodded.

Harry took my hand, and closed his eyes. We continued to walk down the path.

We had no idea how far ahead Voldemort would be.

My mother floated beside Harry, my father beside me. Right behind us were Sirius and my godfather.

Their presence gave me the courage.

I couldn't leave Harry alone.

Not when he was afraid.

Not when he was about to die.

Harry then took the Cloak off, and handed it to me. I held it in my hands as we reached a small clearing, with a fire burning in the center.

Voldemort was gathered with his Death Eaters.

"The hour is nearly up," Bellatrix hissed.

"I thought he would come," Voldemort said. "I expected him to come. I was, it seems... mistaken."

"You weren't," Harry said.

Heads turned to us, and laughter burst out.

"HARRY NO!"

Hagrid, from where he was apparently bound to a tree, yelled again. "NO! NO! HARRY, WHAT'RE YEH—"

"QUIET!" The Death Eater called Rowle shouted, silencing Hagrid with a flick of his wand.

Harry let go of my hand, and looked at me.

"I love you," he said softly. "Thank you for being a wonderful sister."

I swallowed back tears as Harry stepped forward to meet Voldemort.

"Harry Potter," Voldemort said. "The Boy Who Lived."

He raised his wand.

Voldemort looked at me, and a smile curved on his lips.

Next thing I knew there was a flash of green and Harry dropped to the floor.


	88. Chapter 88

The instant the spell hit Harry, Voldemort collapsed.

He had unknowingly destroyed his own Horcrux.

Of course, there was no laughter.

The Death Eaters wouldn't laugh at the sight of their master on the ground.

It took a split second for me to register what'd happened.

But when I did, I dropped to my knees, a small sob escaping my lips.

Narcissa Malfoy fixated her eyes on me. For a moment she looked sad.

"My Lord," Bellatrix said lovingly to Voldemort as she ran to his side. "My Lord...."

"That will do," Voldemort said. He slowly got to his feet.

Several Death Eaters backed away. Voldemort tucked his wand back into his robes. Bellatrix kneeled beside him.

"My Lord, let me—" Bellatrix began.

"I do not require assistance," Voldemort said sharply, taking a shaky step back.

He turned to me, and saw the blank expression on my face.

He knew something was off about this entire thing. Something.

I felt a sharp pain in my head.

He then faltered. He must have seen in my mind Harry telling me he was a Horcrux.

Voldemort looked afraid.

"The boy," he said sharply. "Is he dead?"

He needed confirmation. He was afraid he'd screwed himself over. If my brother was alive he'd have made himself vulnerable to him.

Voldemort had to know Harry was dead.

"You," he said, slashing his wand through the air. The spell hit Narcissa Malfoy and she shrieked in pain, and staggered forward.

"Examine him," Voldemort demanded. "Tell me whether he is dead."

She looked wideways at me. Then she kneeled down and examined him, her hands going over his chest.

"He is dead!" She yelled, standing up.

There was a loud cheer. I let out a small sob.

Then a strange thing happened.

She looked right at me and shook her head ever so slightly— so slightly that I could barely tell she was doing it.

But she was.

"You see?" Voldemort screeched. "Harry Potter is dead by my hand, and no man alive can threaten me now! Watch! Crucio!"

His last form of confirming his greatest fear was no longer a threat.

Harry's body shook, and I croaked, covering my eyes.

He was still limp, even though his glasses flew off.

Narcissa looked nervously at me.

I had a strange feeling about this.

"Now," Voldemort said. "We go to the castle, and show them what has become of their hero. Who shall drag the body? No— wait—"

He slashed his wand and Hagrid's ropes were broken. He stumbled forward.

"You carry him, Voldemort said. "He will be nice and visible in your arms, will he not? Pick up your little friend, Hagrid. And you— little Elizabeth Potter... put your brother's glasses on. He must be recognizable. You shall walk beside him."

I numbly stood up, and picked Harry's glasses up as Hagrid whimpered, lifting Harry's body into his arms.

I very gently put Harry's glasses back on.

I noticed a flicker of his eyelid in his right eye.

Now I knew what Narcissa was so nervous about.

I gently touched his face, and brushed his hair away. I let my hand trail down to his neck.

I felt a heartbeat.

I smiled.

But of course, I wasn't stupid enough to leave it at that.

"You rest now," I said, making a big show of crying. "You did so good. I'm so proud of you...."

I leaned down and kissed his forehead.

Voldemort suspected nothing.

"Move," he snapped at Hagrid.

Hagrid and I moved slowly forward through the forest.

"I'm so sorry, Beth," Hagrid said, large tears streaming out of his eyes. "I'm so sorry..."

I gently rubbed his arm.

"Stop," Voldemort said after we reached the edge of the forest.

He then, once again, amplified his voice to ring across the grounds.

"Harry Potter is dead," Voldemort said. "He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone."

I couldn't believe him.

"The battle is won," Voldemort continued. "You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters has outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman, or child, will be slaughtered, as will very member of their family. Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together."

Voldemort began to walk again, beckoning Hagrid forward. Nagini slithered up his back and rested on his shoulders.

I couldn't risk killing her now. If I did, Harry would probably reveal he was alive.

I needed him to be safe.

"Stop."

We halted right in front of the doors of the entrance hall.

The doors opened, and the horrified faces of the multitudes that'd been fighting, saw Harry.

"NO!" Professor McGonagall screamed. I would never have thought she could make such an anguished sound.

Her cry made even more people flood out.

"NO!"

"NO— PLEASE GOD NO!"

"Harry! HARRY!"

I had never seen Ron, Hermione, and Ginny look so torn— so desperate.

George appeared behind them, and looked in horror at Harry's body.

He looked at me and I winked.

He looked taken aback, but seemed to immediately understand.

Voldemort growled, seeing the crowd was still screaming and yelling curses at the Death Eaters.

"SILENCE!" He roared. "It is over! Set him down Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"

My lip trembled as Hagrid set him down.

"You see?" Voldemort hissed, casting a Silencing Charm. "Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"

Voldemort turned to me. "Can't you see it? So many years Harry Potter relied on his sister as a shield. Both when she had her powers and didn't. A coward."

"He beat you!" Ron yelled, which resonated loudly. The Charm seemed to not be working.

There was a bang and Voldemort cast another enormous silencing charm.

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," Voldemort hissed. "Killed while trying to save himself—"

Out of all people, Neville lunged forward and tried to attack Voldemort.

"And who is this?" Voldemort hissed once Neville had been restrained. "Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"

"Neville Longbottom, my Lord!" Bellatrix laughed maliciously. "The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?"

"Ah yes," Voldemort said as Neville struggled to get back on his feet. "But you are a pureblood, aren't you, my brave boy?"

"So what if I am?" Neville hissed.

"You show spirit and bravery and you come of noble stock," Voldemort said. "You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom."

"I'll join you when hell freezes over," Neville hissed. "Dumbledore's Army!"

Many people in the crowd cheered, and even I did. Voldemort looked at me with loathing as I stepped to stand beside Neville, my wand out.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you, Elizabeth Potter?" He snarled. "Very well. If that is your choice, both of you, then we revert to the original plan. On your head be it."

Voldemort growled and slashed his wand furiously through the air.

Seconds later, out of one of the castle's shattered windows, something that looked like a misshapen bird flew through the half light and landed in Voldemort's hand.

The Sorting Hat.

"There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School," Voldemort said. "There will be no more Houses. The emblem, shield, and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone. Won't they, Neville Longbottom?"

Voldemort fixated his faze on Neville. He pointed his wand at him, and Neville became rigid. He forced the hat onto his head so it slipped below his eyes.

The crowd stirred nervously.

"Neville here is now going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me," Voldemort snapped.

The Sorting Hat burst into flames.

I screamed, and almost immediately cast a protective spell to attempt to get the Hat off Neville.

Luckily, I wasn't the only one that acted at this very moment.

When I finally managed to extinguish the flames and get the hat off a slightly burned Neville, I realized that the loud thumping I could hear was a new army being led by Grawp.

Voldemort's giants retaliated, making the earth shake violently. But even they were no match for the incredible accuracy of the centaurs who now shot arrow after arrow.

Neville gave a battle cry, and grabbed the Sorting Hat, reaching inside.

In one swift motion he drew the silver blade that was the sword of Godric Gryffindor. Everyone gazed at him in amazement as he raised the blade and sliced off Nagini's head clean. I let out a cheer just as Voldemort gave out a cry of rage.

Then all hell broke loose.

I sprinted to where George and Fred were now battling Death Eaters, and quickly jumped to Ginny's aide as Bellatrix shot a curse at her.

I heard another loud cry, and saw that the House Elves, led by Dobby and Kreacher, had burst out and were now fighting alongside the centaurs.

Bellatrix was furious.

With every slash of her wand she angrily growled.

Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and I were all fighting her but we could barely keep up. Her rage was immense, and it was fueling her every move.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The spell literally passed right in between Ginny and I, missing us both by inches.

I was just about to retaliate with a hex of my own when Mrs Weasley stepped forward.

"Not my daughters you BITCH," she snarled, beginning to cast spell and after spell in Bellatrix's direction.

Bellatrix seemed mildly afraid, and I could tell that now SHE was struggling to keep up.

Nothing beats motherly love.

I cheered loudly when a particular hex on Mrs Weasley's part finished off Bellatrix, causing her to go rigid and collapse on the floor.

"YES!" Hermione cried.

I heard some yelling and whirled around, seeing Cassius and Luna had met a new adversary— the Death Eater Rowle.

I flicked my wand, causing Rowle to trip on his own feet.

Remorselessly, Warrington slashed his wand, and Rowle burst into dust.

"Thanks," he said, wiping his brow as we saw that the fighters on our side seemed to be fighting stronger, and that more Death Eaters were being defeated.

"HARRY!" Came Hagrid's voice. "WHERE'S HARRY?"

In the commotion, my brother must have moved.

George ran to my side and took my hand in his.

"The wink," he gasped. "Did it mean—?"

"Yes," I breathed, seeing movement on my right.

Moments later, Harry took off the Invisibility Cloak, and he and Voldemort stepped into a naturally formed circle.

"Here I am," Harry said boldly. He looked at me sideways and smiled. "I don't want anyone else trying to help. It's got to he like this. It's got to be me."

I tensed, and George held me back.

Voldemort, on the other hand, hissed lightly.

"Potter doesn't mean that," he said, mostly to his remaining Death Eater. "That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, your sister's boyfriend?"

Harry didn't falter.

"Nobody," he said. "There aren't any more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good...."

Voldemort laughed shrilly, although I could tell he was nervous.

"One of us?" He asked. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings."

Harry paced around Voldemort.

They began to circle each other like animals.

"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me?" Harry asked. "Accident, when I decided to fight in the Ministry? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight and still survived and returned to fight again?"

"ACCIDENTS!" Voldemort screamed. "You have gotten lucky, Harry Potter. Lucky that your sister saved you from bleeding out when I first attempted to kill you. Lucky she sent you and the stone to a safer room and faced me herself. Lucky she resisted the temptation of my younger self. Lucky my idiot Death Eater put her instead of you in the Tournament thinking it'd manage to make her lose her powers so she'd no longer be able to keep you safe. Lucky she threw herself in front of my wand for you at the Ministry. You are weak, Harry Potter, and you have been saved by your sister time and time again. It has nothing to do with accidents. The sole fact is that you have crouched and sniveled behind your sister and the skirts of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you."

"You will never be able to kill them again," Harry said. "My sister's sacrifices have only made me stronger. It wasn't luck. It was her choice. Thanks to her I'm here, facing you. Don't you get it? When she and I walked into that forest, I was ready to die. Ready to die in order to stop you from hurting these people. And I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. These people— they're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

George squeezed my hand, and I relaxed.

Voldemort was done for. He just didn't know it.

"You dare—" Voldemort snarled.

"Yes I dare," Harry said. "I know things you don't, Tom Riddle. Want to hear some before you make another big mistake?"

"Is it love again?" Voldemort jeered. "Dumbledore's favorite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death. Love did not prevent me from stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter. Love did not prevent the people here from dropping dead. Nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time and take my curse—"

Harry swiped out his hand just as I leapt forward.

"People do," he said. "But this is up to you, and me, Tom."

Voldemort flinched. "Love cannot save you this time Potter. Step aside before I bring death to you like I did to Albus Dumbledore."

They continued to circle each other.

"You thought you did but you were wrong," Harry said. "You didn't him killed. He chose his own manner of dying, chose it months before he died, arranged the whole thing with the man you thought was your servant. He told Beth. Told her almost a whole year before it happened. She knew for a long time his plan was for Snape to kill him."

He paused and smirked.

"Severus Snape wasn't yours," he said. "He was Dumbledore's from the moment you began to hunt down my mother. Didn't he ask you to spare her and my sister's life?"

"He desired her, that was all!" Voldemort said. "He wanted her and the girl! But when she had gone he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him—"

Harry laughed wryly.

"Yeah, he told you that," he said. "But even so... he still remained Dumbledore's spy... he and Dumbledore planned Dumbledore's death together! Beth was their witness. It was part of their plan. Dumbledore was already dying when Snape finished him!"

"Dumbledore was trying to keep the Elder Wand from me!" Voldemort hissed. "He intended that Snape should be the true master of the wand! But I understood that— I killed Severus Snape earlier tonight. The Elder Wand is now truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong!"

Harry seemed to know something Voldemort didn't know, because he smirked.

"Dumbledore's last plan hasn't backfired on me at all," he said. "It backfired on you, Riddle. The wand still isn't working properly for you because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore. The true master of the wand was Draco Malfoy! He disarmed Dumbledore!"

Voldemort flinched, but masked it with a malicious laugh.

"I can attend to Draco Malfoy after I've killed you—"

"Too late," Harry said with a slight shrug. The nerve of him had me at the edge of my figurative seat. "I overpowered Draco Malfoy weeks ago. I took his wand from him. I am the true master of the Elder Wand."

Voldemort seemed to finally realize that he was in fact done for.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

I couldn't even be mad at Harry for using that damn spell again.

The two jets of light collided with each other.

Voldemort faltered once again. He knew now he could not win.

After a thrilling moment when red and green merged in the center, Harry's spell overpowered Voldemort's.

In a split second, the Killing Curse rebounded on Voldemort and the Elder Wand flew into the air.

Next thing we knew, Voldemort fell on the ground and was no more.

There was silence for a moment.

Then Harry triumphantly reached an arm up, and the Elder Wand landed right in his hand.

It was over.

__________

I turned the Resurrection Stone over in my hand.

"It's a good idea," I said, looking at Harry. "I know we should never use this again..."

I turned to George.

"But I have to side with George," I said quietly. "I think this will give some people peace."

George nodded and Harry sighed.

"We'll give everyone ten minutes with the Stone," he said. "Ten minutes to say proper goodbyes."

That sounded good to me.

It was thanks to Hermione we managed to get enough of a system going to let families one by one go in.

It of course took more than a day. George had suggested we call families who hadn't been at the battle.

Mr and Mrs Diggory got to say a proper goodbye to Cedric.

Mrs Hoganson, Kesenia, Batavia, Katie, and Oliver got to introduce Bixby Wood to Bixby Hoganson.

Alex, Corey, Lynn, and Brandon, Savanna's boyfriend, all got to pay their respects and thank their friend for what she'd done.

Luna and Xenophilius Lovegood had a chance to speak to Pandora Lovegood one last time.

Aberforth Dumbledore got a bittersweet moment with Ariana and Albus.

Molly Weasley had a chance to talk to her brothers Fabian and Gideon once more.

"That's the last of them," Harry said softly as little Dennis Creevey and his parents walked out after their time with Colin.

"Our turn," I said softly, smiling a bit as Dennis handed me the Stone, not looking so distraught now.

Harry took my hand and slowly led me in. George, who was waiting outside, handed baby Teddy to Harry.

When George closed the door to the small classroom we had allotted to this, I breathed deeply.

I squeezed the stone.

Harry had to hold me stable as figure after figure floated out.

My godfather and Tonks smiled, their arms wrapped around each other, as our parents and Sirius took their places beside them.

On the other side, Bixby, Cedric, and Savanna stood, their hands in their pockets.

"Hey," I said softly, swallowing my tears as Harry walked up to Tonks and my godfather with a cooing Teddy.

"Hey Beth," Cedric said, smiling. "Good job you two. You did it."

"Always knew you could," Bixby said. "We've been watching."

"That WAS quite a fight, Harry," Savanna said with a giggle. "And thank George for me, for having this idea. I'm glad Brandon will have some peace."

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, my lip trembling. "I didn't want this to happen. I didn't want any of you to die."

Cedric shrugged. "It wasn't your fault. We knew what we were getting ourselves into. For the record, you didn't want to explore that graveyard. I insisted."

"But—"

"And I chose to go to the Ministry," Bixby added. "I chose to fight my dad— who, by the way, is in hell, thankfully—"

"Well yes but—"

"I wanted to fight here," Savanna said. "I came to make a difference for my country. I succeeded. None of this was ever your fault Beth."

I swallowed back more tears.

"You've been blaming yourself for years," Cedric said, frowning slightly. "I watched you fall apart that summer after the Tournament. You didn't do this to us. You are not to blame."

"We would never blame you for this," Bixby said. "Stop telling yourself our death falls on you. It doesn't. And we... we're glad to have gotten to lay down our lives to make the world a better place. Can't you see, Beth? My nephew can now grow up where I did, without the fear he'd get killed at Diagon Alley."

"My mother can travel here now, like she's always wanted to," Savanna breathed.

"And my parents are finally out of hiding," Cedric said with a smile. "We all made our world better. Don't apologize. Thank you, Beth."

"Yes, thank you," Bixby said. "And thank you, Harry. For not giving up."

"You were wonderful, Harry," Savanna said.

Harry blushed as Teddy clung to his chest.

"I love you guys," I whispered, wiping my eyes.

"And we love you," Cedric said. "You deserve the world. And dibs, on your kid's name."

"What?" I said. "But I can't—"

"Heroes can call in favors," Bixby said. "You may not be able to biologically have kids... but you'll have them yet. We promise."

"Dibs on the girl to be named after me," Savanna piped up.

"You guys," I said softly.

"It's never goodbye," Cedric said. "It's only I'll see you later. I taught George that. And it holds true. One day we'll meet again, Beth. Enjoy your life with George. You've earned it."

"Thank you," I sobbed.

The three figures moved forward and wrapped their arms around me.

Then just as quickly as they appeared, they faded.

I turned and saw the rest of my family waiting.

"Mommy," I breathed. "Daddy..."

My parents came forward, pulling Harry and I into a surprisingly solid hug.

"We are so, so proud of you," my mother said.

"And we love you so much," my father said. "You will both be great parents..."

"I'm so happy for you both," my mother said. "You have good people at your side. Have wonderful lives my children... we'll meet again someday, alright?"

My father pressed a kiss on my forehead while my mother kissed Harry's.

Then they too, vanished.

"I raised a good woman, Elizabeth," my godfather said as Sirius embraced Harry.

"Take care of our Teddy, okay?" Tonks said.

"Of course," I said, now holding Teddy, who was drooling on my shoulder.

"We love you all," Sirius said softly.

I wished the ten minutes could have lasted longer.

When I walked out of the room, a now sleeping Teddy resting against my shoulder, George put his arm around me.

"So Angelina came," he said softly. "She and Fred seem to be talking again."

"Good," I said, smiling as I rubbed Teddy's back.

"And the ferret—"

"Draco—"

"—Draco," George corrected himself, "yes him. He came and said he wanted me to tell you thank you. He had to go help his mother... apparently Bellatrix and Voldemort ad a kid. Draco seems to have convinced his mother to help him raise the baby. She's in good hands."

I sighed in relief as we reached the Black Lake.

I turned the Stone over in my hands.

Then I tossed it right into the lake, as far as it would go.

"Well," George said, shifting and reaching into his pocket. "Where were we?"

"I dunno," I said. "The war's over—"

He pulled out a small ring.

"We're at the part where I propose to you properly," he said, getting down on one knee.

You best believe I said yes.


	89. Chapter 89

_JUNE 7, 1999_   
  


"You mean to tell me you're getting married in SIX days and you still don't have a wedding dress?"

I looked sheepishly at Alicia and shrugged.

"THIS is why you should have let us plan the wedding from the start!" Batavia hissed.

"We did tell you that you'd be way too busy," Katie said.

"Well if I was so busy, how would you even make the time for me to get fitted?" I inquired.

"Bring the dresses to your work!" Angelina said. "Come on Beth— you can't seriously think we'd let you wear a random sundress to your wedding."

"I don't see why it matters so damn much," I muttered.

"IT IS YOUR WEDDING!"

I held my hands up in surrender.

"Fine, take me to the shop or whatever," I mumbled.

The past year has been... well Katie already mentioned it was busy.

First of all, pretty much everyone who was a main part of my life demanded Harry and I (and a few others) needed therapy. Badly.

Of course I didn't feel I needed it until the woman sat me down and had me pour out my entire life story, starting from when Voldemort first appeared in my life to when he finally disappeared.

I had promised myself I wouldn't cry, but the day she asked me to be detailed about the many ways Riddle had seduced me, or how exactly Cedric had died, I broke down.

But that didn't mean I got worse.

Surprisingly to myself, I got better. I finally stopped feeling downright shitty about the deaths of all of the people I loved and for once felt a sense of peace whenever I remembered a past event in my life.

For once, I felt happy to be called Elizabeth Potter. Happy instead of scared. I no longer felt a cramped feeling inside my chest when I remembered the Tournament or the Ministry.

Thank you, Muggle Dr Townsend, who was initially VERY confused why I'd been through so much until I explained more about our world.

(Fred insisted a Muggle therapist who didn't know my situation would be better because they'd have no biases. I suppose he was right, since the witch therapist I first saw showed severe disgust at my mention of Riddle attempting to seduce me.)

Aside from going to therapy, I had to work hard and complete my intern year at the Ministry.

Due to our year's start being delayed, I went through the program not only with Corey, Lynn, and Alex, but also with Harry and Ron.

I was assigned to shadow a young Auror named Vika Madckoor, who was very experienced and unnaturally impulsive.

As such, my group and I (which fortunately included Alex and Ron) had a lot of paperwork after Vika finished her caseload for the day. We had to document her many unnecessary but very cool maneuvers and her use of physical fighting rather than dueling with her wand.

The Saturday lectures were absolute murder. After the first one, Lynn had caved in and done what Corey and Alex did with having quills write for them.

Harry and Ron both lasted longer but then they too, caved.

I refused to do it the entire year. I knew I'd memorize the information better if I wrote it down myself.

Thankfully, the horrible cramping feeling was worth it, and my hard work paid off.

I tied for highest score with a Brazilian wizard named Thiago Augusto.

Corey, Alex, Lynn, Harry, Ron, and I all made it very successfully through our intern year and are now preparing our first residency year, where we'd start all the physical training and learn about selective pressures we might face in the field.

I think I'm ready for it.

Since these five years before I become an Auror are not salary based, I decided (against George's wishes) that I'd get a part time job at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"Beth baby you REALLY don't need a job," George said as I finished packing another box.

"Well I want to have something to do since Andromeda has Teddy all day," I said.

"Well you COULD just sleep, you kind of need it."

"But we have to move all our stuff to the house and if I take time to sleep it'll screw me over."

George sighed and shrugged. "At least I'll get to see you around in those wonderful black pants bending down to pick up the stuff the kids drop when begging their parents to spend money on them...."

I giggled and threw a pillow at him.

If you're wondering what he meant by house, well....

We sort of kind of bought a house almost right after the battle ended.

Naturally it's by the beach, just as George wanted, and it's unnaturally spacious and has beautiful windows and high ceilings along with a crown fricking molding.

The architect is a genius.

George thought it was better to get a house straight out since the apartment didn't have a room for Teddy, and George felt he was entitled to his own room.

That is probably the major indication that George spoils Teddy.

I swear, Mrs Weasley and I have told him a thousand times that we can't get him EVERYTHING he wants.

But George's response is always:

"We have the money for it, babe. We're giving this kid the best life ever. We PROMISED."

Yeah but the best life doesn't always mean you own everything in existence.

I suppose George feels Teddy deserves to have more than he did as a kid.

And I admire that.

"I think this is good," George said the day we finished setting up Teddy's room.

"Are you kidding?" I breathed. "This is almost as nice as our room. Where on earth did you even get that shade of blue?"

"I altered it," he said. "I practically dreamt that shade. It says Teddy all over it."

"And that couldn't possibly be because you put up a plaque with his name on it surrounded by pictures of him, right?"

George bowed. "I live to please."

"He probably will want that off when he turns what, seven maybe?" I asked. "The kids at school will tell him only babies have their names on their walls."

"Well not every kid is named Teddy Remus Lupin so we really should encourage him not to succumb to peer pressure."

"I think we should encourage him not to regardless of the situation," I said. I sighed and leaned on his shoulder. "To think, in a few years we'll have him coming home asking us what certain vulgar words mean—"

"—he already knows 'fuck'—"

"Because you kept saying it when you stubbed your toe on the coffee table! If that'd been his first word I might have killed you, if your mother didn't first."

"Thankfully it was his third word, so I'm good..."

"His second word was 'silly' and I'm not sure that's the best thing either—"

"Aw come on babe, can't I tell a kid he's being silly when he is? At least I didn't call him a fool."

Teddy conveniently learned fool a week later, and said it to Kingsley one day I had a meeting with him.

That's not to say I don't love how much George talks to him. Despite him being completely uncensored, he's so good at getting him to sleep it makes me jealous.

Some nights, all George needs to do is rock Teddy gently in his arms and talk to him about his day in order to make him fall asleep.

There have been several instances where I find him and Teddy both asleep on the balcony chair, having been discussing the stars.

It has gotten Teddy talking a lot faster, and he spouts sentence after sentence often enough as he runs through the now very baby proofed house. Andromeda says Tonks started walking soon.

I suppose Teddy inherited that.

It gets exhausting sometimes, what with George and I working all day and coming back to a very energetic Teddy who has a pleasant day tending the garden with his Auntie Andromeda and taking naps in her cozy bed.

Sometimes I wish she didn't let him nap so often, but I wouldn't trade the bubbly little boy that George and I find after work for anything else in the world.

"Beth! What about this one?"

I really wish I hadn't agreed to let the girls take me dress shopping.

All of them were holding up a different dress.

Angelina had one with long sleeves and a very long skirt— so long I might perhaps need several small children to hold it up.

Alicia had an off the shoulder, also long sleeved dress, with ruffles all around the skirt. Not really my style.

The dress Batavia was holding was one of my favorites. Off the shoulder with an elbow length sleeve, the skirt stopped right at my ankles and was detachable to reveal a shorter skirt below (for the after party).

Hermione's dress was a tad sophisticated, and despite fitting my figure exactly (with no poof), I felt like it'd be something I'd wear if I was getting married to Prince William.

Ginny's was my absolute favorite, but I would never be able to look Mrs Weasley in the face if I wore it to my wedding. And plus, George's Auntie Muriel might decide to shame me in a speech.

"These are all really cute," I sighed, seeing Katie was still rummaging in the back. "But I dunno. I'm not FEELING any of them..."

"What about this one?" Katie piped up.

"Oooh!" Angelina squealed.

"THAT is the one," Batavia breathed.

Hermione and Ginny squealed as Katie held up the dress.

It was indeed, the one.

_______

_JUNE 12, 1999_   
  


"And... done!"

Katie and Batavia clapped as Ginny finished zipping up the back of my dress.

"Wow," Angelina breathed. "George is going to faint when he sees you like that...."

I looked in the mirror and blushed.

My short hair was lightly curled so it floated like clouds just over my shoulders.

Atop my head sat the green rosed flower crown Ginny had constructed to sparkle and bring out my eyes.

Batavia had put some makeup on me, and it was light enough so I looked natural. Even so, I felt just as beautiful as I did at the Yule Ball.

The dress fit me perfectly, and covered my feet, which had sandals on them due to the fact the heels were too uncomfortable for me.

"Sweet Merlin," Mrs Weasley said, stepping into the room. "Oh Beth... you look beautiful."

"Thank you," I said, curtsying.

"It's almost time now," she said. "The guests are seated. Corey and Lynn roped off the seats we left for Bixby, Cedric, Savanna, Remus, Sirius, Tonks, and your parents so the right half of the second row is completely empty except for the flowers on the seats.... now Fred is walking with George up to the front and well, Harry is walking Beth down the aisle so Ginny and Angelina, you'll be holding up Beth's gown at the back. Alicia, you and Lee are walking first after the twins... then Batavia and Oliver... then Katie and Alex... and finally Hermione and Ron. Girls head down— and Beth, Harry would like to speak to you."

The girls all giggled and waved before scurrying out of the room.

Mrs Weasley wiped a tear and took my shoulders.

"I always knew you'd marry one of my boys," she said, her lip trembling. "Arthur and I are so, so blessed that George got you by his side. You have been such a wonderful part of this family and... I'm so very glad that today you'll officially be a Weasley."

I touched her cheek softly and smiled. "Couldn't have done it without you. You raised me when my godfather couldn't and you were... so amazing. They're all so lucky to have had you and Mr Weasley. Thank you, Mum."

She stifled a sob and pulled me into a tight hug.

There was a knock on the door.

"Can I come in?"

"Yes Harry dear, of course," Mrs Weasley said, kissing my forehead. "I'll see you in a bit, Beth."

"See you," I said as Harry came in, now dressed in his brand new dress robes.

"My my, very dapper indeed," I giggled.

"Wow," Harry said, looking at me. "You look awesome. Did you pick that dress because...?"

"Because what?" I asked in confusion.

"Mum," he said, raising an eyebrow. "I swear that is exactly like the wedding dress she had on... the picture is in that photo album you gave me for my birthday. I remember in my third year you always took it to look through it."

"Oh," I said, remembering. "Yeah... maybe that's why. I just knew this was the dress."

Harry smiled and came closer.

"I know I've always been really overprotective of you," he said. "And I never gave you much space. I was always being rude when you and George started dating and well... I'm sorry."

"Harry," I said gently. "I understand—"

"I grew up abused," he said, making me stop. "Neglected. Treated like shit. I had trust issues. I even had trust issues when I first met you. But you... you're my sister. My last true family. And I was so worried... because you were so trusting and positive. I thought you weren't being careful when in reality you were, and you were making sure both of us were safe. I guess I thought you were oblivious to the fact that you could get hurt in a relationship. And I didn't want George to hurt you. When he did that time... I was furious. But you forgave him. And you both got better. He became... a good guy. An even better guy who I realized, did deserve you. At first I thought he didn't because you were so awesome. But he became worthy. And I'm sorry for always being unable to see that."

I breathed in deeply. "Harry it's okay...."

Harry shrugged. "I just... I wanted you to be happy. Never having to feel pain and neglect and a lack of love like I had. But... you always were happy with him. He makes you smile in a way I've never seen anyone smile. When I see you two together... I see true soulmates. Two people who since the beginning of time were meant to find each other and experience life together. Seeing you this happy... makes me so incredibly glad that I get to be a part of both of your lives. And it makes me feel like in my own way, I did my duty as a brother to protect you. I'm... so excited, I suppose, is the word for it, to watch you marry him today. Because I know that from now on you will always have everything you need. He's a good guy. You chose really well."

I sniffled and wiped my eyes.

"Damn it Harry," I said, my voice shaky. "You're making me cry."

Harry pulled me into a hug, his chin now resting a little over my head.

"You're so bloody tall now," I whispered.

"I'm your not so little brother," he said with a short laugh. There was a beat of silence. "I love you, Beth. And I know that our parents are watching now and they're so happy for you."

I rested my head on his shoulder. "Thank you, Harry..."

After a moment, we pulled apart.

"So," he said, clasping his hands together. "You ready to get married?"

"I've been ready," I giggled as he took my hand and led me downstairs.

Almost as soon as we arrived, music started playing.

I took Harry's arm, and watched how first, Mr and Mrs Weasley walked out.

Then went Fred and George, both waving. Fred seemed to be keeping George from looking behind him at me.

Next went Alicia and Lee, arm in arm, waving at the crowd as they took their places on opposite sides of the altar.

Batavia and Oliver followed them, with little baby Bixby and baby Teddy walking in between them. He and Teddy each had small cushions with rings pinned on them, so they could be our ring bearers when the time came.

Katie and Alex walked gallantly behind them, and then came Hermione and Ron.

Then, Harry tugged me forward.

I could see Fred was holding George's head to face the ground as I began walking down the aisle, and I let out a laugh.

All around me in the crowd, the friends and family we'd invited were smiling at me, taking pictures and blowing kisses.

When I reached the last stretch to the altar, Ginny and Angelina let go of my dress and went to sit, and Harry stopped to hug me before releasing my hand.

Fred then allowed George to look up.

George's POV  
  


I thought I might faint when I saw her.

To tell you the truth, I almost did.

I stumbled slightly, and Fred gripped my arm.

"Oi mate, keep it together," he said with a grin.

But that was almost impossible.

Tears filled my eyes as I saw her walk up to join me.

She looked like a goddess. Her hair seemed to be made out of the finest unicorn hair. Her eyes were a shimmering green much like the roses on her crown. Her dress... wow. I didn't think there could possibly be a more perfect dress.

"You are so, so beautiful," I whispered as the wizard began the ceremony.

She blushed, and reached out to take my hand.

It was warm.

"Dearly beloved," the wizard said, looking over at the audience. "We are gathered here today to witness the union of two people who, from what I hear, have been in love for over five years. These two young souls, Elizabeth Lily Potter, and George Gideon Weasley (A/N: I want his name to be that, deal with it.) are here today to profess their love and sanctify it, and become fully united through marriage."

I hardly paid attention to the rest of the ceremony.

Sure, it was cute when Batavia led baby Teddy and baby Bixby up with the rings and Beth and I placed them on each other, but I wasn't involved in what the wizard was saying.

I didn't need this to know I was so utterly in love with her and wanted to wake up at her side everyday for the rest of my life.

When the time for vows came, Fred had to pinch me so I could remember to go.

I took both of Beth's hands.

"I have been," I began, breathing deeply, "rehearsing this for months. I wanted today to be perfect. And you... you are perfect."

Beth blushed, and bit her lip.

"I have known forever that you weren't just another friend," I said. "Since you walked into my life I have always felt a connection to you that just... let me know that you were special. And when I realized I'd fallen in love with you, I understood exactly why I felt that way for so long. Elizabeth Potter... I love every bit of you. From everything you think is a flaw, to everything you're proud of. I promise you that you will never have a day without me by your side, loving every aspect of you. I promise to honor you every day for the rest of my life. I have earned your trust and plan to keep it. We are going to have... a wonderful life together. And the simple thought of that makes me so happy I want to kiss you now."

Beth was crying now, slow tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Elizabeth Potter," I said, looking right into her eyes. "Today's the day my life truly begins. Today, I become your husband. No matter what happens, I'll be ready. For anything and everything. To take on life, to take on love. To take on possibility and responsibility. Today Elizabeth Potter, our life together begins. And I for one can't wait. Because guess what? I truly know what I want. And it's to be with you for the rest of my life. Through thick and thin. If you live to be a hundred, well... I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you. How lucky I am, to have someone who makes saying goodbye to in the morning before work so, so hard. How lucky I am, that that someone is you."

I heard the distinct sound of my mother letting out a sob when I finished.

Everyone around clapped, and when I saw Beth looking undeniably happy, I knew I'd drafted my vows very well.

Beth then cleared her throat, and held my hands tightly. "I-I didn't prepare the longest vows. I wasn't sure what to write. Would I mention how much I love you? Because I think it'd just be me rambling on and on about you and how cute you are and how sweet and kind... and then the food would get cold..."

Some people laughed, and I grinned.

God, I loved her.

"The one thing I've realized," she said, looking up at me, "is that I got very fortunate. Fortunate enough that I have had you since childhood as a close friend. My bestest friend. George, I know in my heart that no one else would have been better for me, and everyday I thank Merlin that m-my godfather thought to introduce us. You are... something else. A blessing. I never thought a person could mean so much to me, but I was wrong. You are my world, and the fact I'm standing here, about to officially marry you... it makes me want to giggle. This is the kind of thing I've always dreamed about. Marrying the perfect guy. And you are him. I am beyond honored you felt the same way about me, and I can't wait to see what life has in store for us. I love you, George, I always have, and always will."

I leaned in to kiss her, but the wizard swiped his hand out in front of my face, making the audience laugh.

"Now," he said sternly, a slight smirk on his face. "Do you, Elizabeth Lily Potter, take George Gideon Weasley to be your husband?"

"Yes," she said immediately.

"And do you, George Gideon Weasley—"

"I do, I so do," I blurted out.

More laughter.

The wizard sighed in mild annoyance. "Then I pronounce you husband and wife. You may—"

By then I'd already grabbed Beth's face and kissed her.

________

George seems to have taken dance lessons or something, because in our first dance as a couple, he doesn't step on me at all.

"You look shocked," he whispered in my ear while the music played.

"You haven't tread on my toes."

"Well those toes need to be working for tonight baby, because—"

"George!" I hissed, covering my blush by leaning on his shoulder.

He laughed, and his hands trailed lower on my back.

When the music stopped, Ginny went up to where the microphone stand was.

"Hey," she said to everyone at the wedding. "Welcome. The dance floor is now open to anyone who wants to dance for this next number. After that... two very special people have some speeches they'd like to make."

George looked just as confused as I did when the music started again.

"Wonder who they are," he said, twirling me around.

"Me too," I said.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and saw Warrington.

"You came!" I cried.

"Yeah, sorry I missed the ceremony," he said sheepishly. "Luna's dress ripped and she seemed a bit distressed about not getting to wear it so we had to go get it fixed..."

I looked over at Luna, seeing the frilly multicolored dress she had on.

"It's alright," I said happily.

"Can I have this dance?" Warrington asked, holding his hand out. "I need to talk."

"Of course," I said. George nodded respectfully, then went and grabbed his Mum for a dance.

"So," Warrington said, blushing a bit. "I told Luna I had planned an expedition to America. I didn't tell her it was to a rare creature preserve. My er— connections got me in. They have some of the rarest creatures ever. Creatures she's been dreaming of seeing."

"That's so sweet!" I squealed. "Aw Cash, she'll love it!"

He gulped. "I um— have this plan..."

He rummaged in his pocket and extracted a gorgeous diamond ring.

"I would like to propose right in front of the landscape for the Crumple Horned Snorkacks," he said. "Two of them are in existence. I want her to see she was right about them existing, then have her turn around to see me on one knee."

I was speechless.

"That is wonderful," I whispered. "She is going to love it."

Warrington bowed as the music stopped. "Thank you. For introducing me to her. For being my friend. You made me the man I am... the man that managed to appeal to her. You're a true blessing."

I smiled as there rang out the sound of someone clearing their throat.

I looked up to see Viktor had taken the podium.

"Hello," he said, waving at George and I. My husband came and wrapped his hand around me as we waited for Viktor to start his speech.

"I have known Beth for vat seems like forever," he said. "I remember ven she first told me about George, I knew right avay that they vere meant to be. I'm glad I got to vatch them actually tie the knot. I have never met two people who vere better for each other. Congratulations, you two, from Cedric and I."

There was clapping, and I held my chest.

Next, Batavia took the podium, giggling.

"Wow," she said. "I still remember when in first year, Beth told me she 'kinda' had a crush on George. I was the first person she told. I had to keep that secret for awhile. But then, they both clearly liked each other and didn't make a move! It was agonizing. I'm just glad you guys finally realized what you felt and someone managed to make a move. I'm beyond grateful to have gotten to be part of your lives. I know Bixby would have loved to give this speech by my side. Congrats, Beth and George!"

I leaned into George and breathed deeply.

About an hour later, George pulled me aside.

"Let's go home, everyone's drunk," he said with a giggle.

"You sound drunk," I said with an equivalent giggle.

"Naw," he said, smirking.

He took my hand, and led me to where Teddy was asleep in his carrier.

I picked it up slowly, and next thing I knew, George Apparated on the spot.   
__________

The next morning when I woke up at George's side, I smiled.

We'd been sleeping in the same bed for over a year now. This was no different.

But it was. I looked over my husband's face and smiled, caressing his cheek.

We are married.

George is my husband.

My name is Elizabeth Lily Weasley.

This can't get any better.


	90. Epilogue

_SEPTEMBER 1, 2017_   
  


"Teddy's coming? What FOR?"

"Cedric," I sighed, helping him push his trolley into the wall. "Don't judge your brother for wanting to come along. It's his business."

"He just wants to see Victoire..."

"Savanna," George called, pushing her and her trunk on the cart, "your mum said it's his business right?"

"Yucky."

George looked at me and laughed.

Behind us, Teddy rolled his eyes.

"They're so dramatic," he said. "They act like they won't be doing the same thing in a few years."

"Just go see your girlfriend," George said, patting his back. "Forgive the twins. They're only 11."

Honestly, I had never thought much about that blessing Cedric, Bixby, and Savanna had mentioned. The one about me having kids.

George and I had raised Teddy as an only child for years, and I didn't consider their words until one day, when Teddy was six.

Harry and Ginny had just had Albus. George and I were leading Teddy around the hospital when one of the healers had come into the room, carrying newborn twins— a boy and a girl.

Next thing I knew, she was asking us if we wanted to adopt them. She said they'd been left outside, and were only days old— with no names.

George and I had immediately accepted.

Teddy hadn't been the happiest when Cedric Bixby Weasley and Savanna Lily Weasley came into our lives, but after awhile he adjusted to having a little brother and sister.

They'd been a handful at first. What with me finally working as a full time Auror, it was difficult at the start to get a schedule in place. George, who had the more flexible job, spent the most time with the twins when they were babies.

Once they'd started school, it had been a lot easier to deal with. I would drop them off in the morning and George would pick them up, then give them a snack. Once I got home, I'd make dinner for us all then George and I would sit down to help them all with homework.

Once Teddy started at Hogwarts, we only had the twins to worry about on a daily basis, so they got in the habit of hanging out at their Grandma Molly's after school while George and I worked.

Today, the twins are finally starting at Hogwarts. Teddy's just graduated, declaring his intentions to work in the Ministry's Office for Welfare of Magical Creatures. He's made it his business to tease the twins since they are barely starting out.

Savanna retaliated by calling out his relationship with Victoire.

Cedric is fairly quiet. He is the one I have to worry the least about. He always does his schoolwork and has a wonderful work ethic. He tries to help wherever he can, and is incredibly smart.

Savanna is the troublemaker. The youngest of the twins, she makes up for it with a reputation as a little daredevil and a fighter. She's gotten into a fair amount of fights while defending other kids, and George and I have had to have teacher conferences often. She is very witty, but she doesn't take deadlines seriously.

George and Fred are betting Cedric will be Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, and Savanna will be Gryffindor or Slytherin.

We'll just have to see.

"Mum!" Cedric cried. "There's Uncle Harry!"

"Wonderful," I sighed, going over and ruffling my brother's hair.

"Hey," he said happily. Beside him, Ginny was fixing little Lily's scarf.

"Auntie Beth!" James said, waving at me. "Uncle George! Guess what?"

"What?" George said, snaking his hand around my waist.

"I caught a SNAKE yesterday," he said. "But Dad said I couldn't keep it..."

"Should've given it to me, I'd have kept it safe for you," George said with a grin.

James' eyes lit up, and Ginny looked sharply at George.

"Do NOT encourage him," she said, although her lip twitched into a smile.

"Let the kid have a pet, Gin. He only gets to catch a snake once..."

"It's a snake."

"As we've all learned, not all snakes are bad," George said, nodding to Warrington, who was across the platform, kissing his 13 year old, Annaleah, on the forehead. Beside him was Luna, holding the hands of their 15 year old twin sons Lorcan and Lysander, who were likely in a spot of trouble considering how she caressed the backs of their hand.

"This snake could have been venomous!" Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "Like him."

She nodded to Draco, who was near the entrance with his wife, Astoria, and his 11 year old Scorpius.

"You're still annoyed that I invited him to that Christmas party?" I sighed. "He didn't mean to break that vase—"

"Some people never change," she said.

But we all laughed.

Because the reality was, Draco was progressing towards becoming everyone's friend.

He had done a good job of raising Delphi, the daughter of Bellatrix and Voldemort. With his mother's help, the girl excelled in school. She had graduated alongside Teddy, and I distinctly remember at the graduation, they mentioned she would like to study Magical Law.

"So is it true Bixby is going to stay here and study Healing?" Harry asked.

"Yes!" I said. "Batavia and Oliver said they'd rather he stay closer to home. He's their only child and they just aren't ready to let him go just yet."

"Are Katie and Alex ever coming back from America or are they both just going to stay?" Ginny asked.

"Last I talked to Alex, the job was going really well for him," George said. "The Aurors get paid more there. And well Katie, she has much more interesting medical cases. Plus Vivianna and Israel were born there, they probably don't want to make them leave when they're two years away from graduating from Ilvermorny."

Ginny nodded. Lily abruptly tugged her arm.

"Mummy!" She cried. "Auntie Hermione and Uncle Ron are here!"

"Finally!" George said. "Took him long enough. Now we just need Fred. God knows if they'll make it on time, Angelina told Beth that Danico had a fever all night, poor thing. Kid can't go to Hogwarts like that."

"Poor thing," Ginny sighed.

"Sorry we're late!" Ron said as he and Hermione ran up, Rose and Hugo trailing behind them.

"It's alright," I chirped. "You excited, Rose?"

"Yeah," she said, grabbing Savanna's hand and leading her a bit aways. Cedric went to Albus to ask him a question.

"They try to act like they aren't a bit nervous, but I can tell they ALL are," Hermione said.

I laughed and then waved suddenly.

"Ah, Freddie!" George said. "Perfect. Hey Danico, you feeling better?"

"A bit," Danico sighed, blowing his nose as Angelina fussed over him and fixed his shirt collar.

"His fever spiked so much last night I was worried we might need to take him to St Mungo's," she said. "Thankfully it broke and he was okay."

Fred clapped his hands. "So Lee and Alicia send their regards from Venice, they say it's beautiful. Now Beth, what on Earth was so important you had to gather us all here fifteen minutes before the train left?"

I looked at George and smiled.

"Well," George said, looking up. "Katie was telling us about this... surgery. Done by wizards, but manually— and only using magic to heal faster."

"You need surgery?" Hermione cried.

"Not that I need it," I said. "I want it."

Ginny looked alarmed. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

"Batavia was scared when I told her too," I said, rolling my eyes. "You guys... I'm okay. But this surgery.... it could give me back by ability to have kids."

There were immediate screams and cheers.

"No way!" Angelina cried, wrapping her arms around me. "Oh my God— Beth! Yes! Get the surgery!"

"We already have a date for it," George said. "Just need to travel for them to examine her. Our hopes are that by this time next year, I'll be able to owl my mum a positive pregnancy test with a very excited note about how she's becoming a grandma again."

Ginny squealed and hugged me, rubbing my back.

"We still don't know if it'll work," I reminded her. "But we can hope."

"It will!" Hermione said. "Oh I know it will!"

The train whistle blew.

"Mum!" James cried, running back, Cedric and Albus at his heels. "We just saw Teddy kissing Victoire."

"I told him that'd been a thing for awhile now," Cedric sighed. "He didn't believe me." His face then lit up. "HA! JAMES! YOU OWE ME FIFTEEN SICKLES!"

Harry laughed as James growled and slapped the money into Cedric's hand.

"Mummy!" Savanna said, running over as Lily went back with Harry and Ginny. "I'm heading in now."

"Okay baby," I said, kissing her forehead. "Take care, and owl us as soon as you get to your new Common Room, okay?"

"Yep!" Savanna said. "Don't worry, I'll be Gryffindor."

"You're very sure about that," George said, smirking as he hugged Cedric.

"Yeah!" Savanna said. "I KNOW I'll be Gryffindor. I want to be just like mummy. She's brave, so I'm brave."

Without another word, she squealed and dragged Cedric onto the train after he received a kiss from me.

For a moment, I stood in slight shock.

In all the years I'd listened to people compare me to my mother, I'd always considered the physical.

I considered that I was identical to her.

I had never wanted to be compared to her because I wanted to be my own person.

But listening to Savanna, it hit me I never considered that the similarities I shared with my mother went beyond the red hair and green eyes we shared.

As much as I'd known about how brave my mother had been, I'd never thought to think of myself as similar to her in that aspect.

As I watch the train leave, and watch my children wave at me through the window, I feel a sense of realization.

I have red hair.

I have green eyes.

My middle name is Lily.

I gave my life for someone I loved.

I married a boy who had pursued me for years.

I befriended someone who no one liked.

Without trying, I was just like my mother.

And Savanna aspired to be like both of us.

Brave.

When George began to lead me back to the car, a slow tear rolled down my cheek.

It seemed like life finally made sense.

I hadn't wanted to be a flower, but it was exactly what I became.


End file.
